The Descended Mountain Villager Is The Supreme Commander

Chapter 5:Part 2

Darius did not flinch. He did not blink. He looked Lisa directly in the eyes and then, without a word, pulled out his phone.

He scrolled to a contact labeled Servant No. 1 and pressed the call button.

Mira, who had been watching from the doorway with her arms crossed, caught a glimpse of the screen. Her eyes went wide and then narrow with contempt. She let out a laugh so sharp it could have cut glass.

"Servant No. 1? SERVANT No. 1?" She walked closer, pointing at his phone like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life. "You actually have Harvey Whitfield saved as Servant No. 1 in your phone? Are you insane? Who in this entire world is qualified to call Harvey Whitfield a servant? Not the mayor. Not the governor. Not even the President of the United States himself could call that man a servant!"

She turned to Lisa, shaking her head with exaggerated disbelief. "Mom, he is not just delusional. He is dangerous. He is going to get us all killed."

Lisa nodded rapidly, her face tight with anger.

The phone rang once. A voice answered immediately, crisp and alert.

"My Lord. Your orders?"

Darius spoke in the same flat, unbothered tone he always used. "Let tonight's banquet proceed as scheduled."

One sentence. That was it.

He hung up.

The room went dead silent. Joseph stared at Darius, his brow furrowed deep, confusion and suspicion fighting for control of his face.

"Darius... did you just give an order with a single sentence? Just like that? No explanation? No please? You just told whoever was on the other end to reinstate a banquet that three hundred of the most important people in the city were invited to?"

Darius looked at Joseph with a serene expression. His eyes were still. His breathing was even. Not a single muscle on his face was tense.

"When you are giving instructions to your own servant, what more needs to be said?"

He believes it. He actually believes it. Joseph felt something cold crawl down his spine.

Lisa exploded.

"That is IT!" She threw her bag onto the couch and stormed toward Joseph, her heels stabbing the marble floor with every step. Her face was red, her nostrils flaring, her finger pointing at Darius like a weapon.

"Joseph, do you hear him? Do you hear the garbage coming out of his mouth? He is calling Harvey Whitfield his servant! Harvey Whitfield! The man who could buy and sell our entire family a thousand times over! If even one word of this gets out, if even one person hears that someone in this household called Mr. Harvey a servant, we are finished! Do you understand me? FINISHED!"

Her voice was rising with every word, climbing higher and higher until it was almost a scream.

"Our business will be destroyed! Our reputation will be in ashes! Everything we have built over the last ten years will be gone overnight because this delusional, puffed up, mountain raised nobody decided to play make believe at our dinner table!"

Joseph felt the blood drain from his face. Lisa was right. If word got out that someone connected to the Reed family had been calling Harvey Whitfield a servant, the consequences would be catastrophic.

Harvey controlled too much of the city. One word from him and their pharmaceutical contracts would evaporate. Their suppliers would cut them off. Their bank loans would be recalled.

He turned to Darius and lowered his voice to barely above a whisper.

"Darius, please. Even inside our own house, you cannot speak like this. If it gets out, it will bring ruin upon this entire household. I am begging you, son. Be careful."

Darius opened his mouth to respond, but Lisa cut him off.

"Being careful is not enough! He needs to leave!" Lisa jabbed her finger toward the front door. "Joseph, I want him out of this house tonight. Right now. I will not have this ticking time bomb sitting under my roof, eating my food, and dragging my family into the grave with his insane fantasies. He is a parasite, Joseph. A leech that crawled back from the mountain looking for a warm body to attach himself to. And I refuse to be that body!"

"Lisa, please..." Joseph's hands were trembling. He was caught between the woman he married and the boy he had raised. His eyes darted back and forth between them, desperate for a way out that did not exist.

"There is no please! Either he goes or I go!" Lisa crossed her arms and planted her feet. Her jaw was set like concrete.

Mira stood behind her mother, nodding furiously. "She is right, Dad. He is going to ruin everything."

Joseph's phone rang.

The sound cut through the room like a blade. Everyone froze. Joseph looked down at the screen. Same number as before. His hand was shaking as he pressed the green button and brought it to his ear.

"Hello?"

He listened. His eyes grew wider. His mouth fell open. The color left his face and then rushed back in a wave of red.

"What? The previous news was a mistake, and the banquet is proceeding as scheduled?"