Chapter 13: Internship with the Voivode

  The internship with Voivode Boruta turned out to be somewhat different than Justinian had imagined.

  First of all—he was to perform it alone. The chief devil of the dimension had decided that the rest did not deserve it, since they had been defeated in the devilish games by a human. Because of this, they had to content themselves with much less prestigious occupations.

  "What? You want me to train you in combat?"

  Boruta laughed, as if he had heard an excellent joke.

  "Out of the question. I'm too busy for such nonsense."

  "Then... what exactly am I supposed to do?" Justinian asked, genuinely disappointed.

  The Voivode shrugged; truth be told, the fact that a human would be following him around for the next three months didn't appeal to him either.

  However, tradition in hell is an absolute sacred cow, so he eventually came up with a suitable idea:

  "You will rake leaves in the courtyard."

  The young boy, of course, did not take kindly to this. But what could he do? While Boruta spent a week reading the latest pamphlets from de Deviliare, Justinian cleaned the devil's courtyard.

  Franciscus was allowed to accompany him during this time, as his connections meant he was treated well by the Voivode.

  When the weekend arrived, the situation changed a bit. On this day, Boruta received petitions and complaints from his subjects from all over the dimension. In hell, the rule of force usually applied, but it happened—quite often—that a dispute arose between similarly strong devils, which had to be resolved by the Voivode.

  These disputes often concerned the prose of life in hell and were completely unengaging.

  "The one guilty of stealing firewood from the Voivode's property shall be flogged."

  "For taking wood from Boruta's forest, the sentence is a suspended reprimand."

  "The brazen theft of firewood from my forest deserves the worst punishment! Behead this peasant immediately!"

  Boruta announced, depending on his mood and whether he knew the accused. Justinian, of course, carefully noted each verdict to subject it to later contemplation. He knew nothing about law in hell, but he doubted that such a disparity in punishments for almost the same act was just.

  Over time, he noticed that the Voivode was particularly harsh before lunch, and shortly after, he was more inclined towards lenient solutions.

  Finally, one day, hearing Boruta's complaints about how boring all these hearings were, he decided to express his doubts.

  "Why does the Voivode handle all this personally?"

  The chief of the 66th infernal dimension looked at him as if he were an idiot.

  "And who else is supposed to handle it? It is a sacred tradition for me to judge all matters when good customs are broken."

  Justinian had expected a similar answer and was prepared.

  "In the human world, courts are established for such disp—" before he could finish, he was drowned out by the loud laughter of his interlocutor.

  "Hahaha, what idiocy! No wonder your societies are weak and chaos reigns. How are ordinary people supposed to judge with the wisdom of a ruler?!"

  Justinian scratched his head.

  "Actually, they do judge with such wisdom. Our rulers dictate the law, and the judges carry out their verdicts based on it."

  Boruta had no idea what his courtyard-cleaning intern was babbling about. So Justinian decided to explain using examples written in his notebook.

  The devil was initially terribly indignant that he was being spied on by having the cases recorded with such accuracy. His attitude changed, however, when the boy presented the real benefits that came from it.

  "...therefore, excluding these few verdicts, usually in cases of slander, the Voivode issued sentences ranging from a suspended caning to the actual cutting out of the tongue. The latter was for the most serious crimes."

  The Voivode, despite his attachment to tradition, could connect the dots. The truth was that for many centuries, the rulers of other hells had laughed at his backward dimension. This offended him greatly, but before, he had seen no chance of doing anything about it.

  'But if I were to introduce this... perhaps I would even be nominated for the infernal innovation competition... I would also have more time to read pamphlets...'

  He hesitated a bit, as the forces defending tradition in his dimension were exceptionally strong and numerous. Finally, he sighed heavily and made a decision.

  "We can introduce something similar here, but first, we'll check if it even works."

  Justinian nodded at this proposal. He felt a hope that he was making the world—even if it was hell—a slightly more just place. However, what he heard next made him look at his superior with terror.

  "You will be the test judge for the next month. If you fail me, that's the end of this topic. But if you do well..." here his eyes flashed with a sinister glint.

  "I will grant you one request, as long as it is within reasonable limits," he told the young man.

  Before the surprised boy could respond to the proposal, the devil had already made up his mind. He waved his hand, suppressing any attempts at discussion, and announced that he would return shortly with the specifics.

  And so, Justinian became the first judge in the history of the 66th infernal dimension.

  Of course, the boy had many doubts about being entrusted with such an important function, but what could he do? The Voivode had made his decision and did not want to discuss it, and he couldn't just refuse him.

  'It's better than raking the courtyard...' he finally concluded with resignation.

  What's more, he also felt that he could develop on many levels this way. On the one hand, he was reminded of his dying guardian sister's words about faith in justice. On the other—he saw the potential for his cultivation to grow in strength. For while the stories Boruta considered allowed for contemplation and the absorption of ki, Justinian felt that they lacked his personal contribution to absorb ki faster.

  'I must prepare properly...' he thought, stressed.

  Soon, Boruta sent a messenger with a statement that he was delegating a small section of the law to him—cases of assault—along with guidelines on how the future judge was to proceed. He also gave him two weeks to prepare.

  Justinian, knowing nothing of the infernal virtues and the fact that one of them was laziness, took to the work very seriously. Every day, he read the guidelines and considered them in the context of all sorts of circumstances. This gave him some insight into the hierarchy of different cases and what punishments should correspond to them.

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  Finally, the fateful first day of his office arrived.

  The boy sat pale, waiting for the first petitioners to enter.

  'If only the night had been a few hours longer...' he regretted with resignation. He had the impression that despite solid preparation, all his knowledge had strangely evaporated as soon as he appeared in the "court."

  Soon, two devils were brought into the room, their case was presented, and... time began to fly incredibly fast.

  "3 months of community service for the infernal community for an unjustified assault!"

  "A fine for impersonating a devil of higher social status."

  "A caning for complaining about the rule of the honorable Boruta, and an additional round of caning for contempt of the judicial office!"

  Justinian got into the swing of things with each successive case and didn't even notice when the entire weekend had passed. The cases were usually relatively simple because the devils, in their pride and arrogance, couldn't help but flaunt what they had done. This meant he only had to focus on choosing the appropriate sentence.

  'Upon review, I might change a few decisions slightly, but overall, I am satisfied,' he thought during his evening meditation over his Notebook of Transgressions and Atonements. His cultivation seemed to be reacting wonderfully to the new occupation, and he was sure that if he continued like this, he would soon be close to a breakthrough.

  'And that's one step closer to my revenge...' he narrowed his eyes.

  Boruta was also pleased with him, unable to believe how wonderfully the test initiative had played out. It had given him the entire weekend off, which he devoted to lounging in his armchair and planning changes in the dimension.

  'At the next convention of the lords of hells 60-66.6, I will surely shine!' he thought with satisfaction.

  He also decided that from now on, Justinian would handle a wider range of cases and that it was necessary to plan how to transfer this system to a larger scale. After all, having already tasted the sweet fruit of delegating work, he had no intention of returning to the gray reality.

  In this way, the weeks flew by in the blink of an eye for Justinian, the Voivode, and Franciscus, who was diligently noting all the events.

  This was especially true for the human, whose new scope of duties was very demanding, but at the same time—interesting and developing his cultivation. It allowed for a broader perspective on devilish customs and how much they differed from what he was used to in the Kingdom of Peace.

  'Just as the holy books say... devilish rule is pure chaos...' he thought, considering the cases according to the criteria described by Boruta.

  While they partially overlapped with the spirit of the laws existing on earth, Justinian had the impression that they were not very deeply thought out. In places, they also clashed between practical solutions and the Voivode's attempt to respect absurd traditions.

  'Overall, however, they're not that bad...' he assessed.

  He had recently judged a case in which several devils... had been beaten by a single she-devil. They immediately accused her of so-called witchcraft, that is, using the power of human beliefs in heaven and the Great Order on the territory of hell. To his surprise, it turned out that the accused was an acquaintance of his...

  'She's clearly still mad at me from that tournament,' he thought, looking into the eyes of the angered Septima, who was greatly indignant at seeing him in court.

  Of course, Justinian tried to judge her case according to his conscience and dismissed the accusations that had been brought against her.

  The she-devil was visibly confused and even threw him a strange look, but he didn't care. For him, what was important was living according to the principles his guardian sister and the human world had taught him.

  He also approached a breakthrough in his cultivation and felt that he was very close to obtaining the third mark in the Ki Gathering phase. From his conversations with Boruta, he knew that this was a significant stage in the life of every devil-cultivator, and it was then that the technique stone usually revealed its first power.

  The next day, he was walking slowly to the office located in a small town on the Voivode's mountain when he saw that something very strange was happening there.

  For it turned out that the main street, where the office was located, was clogged by some event that had gathered entire crowds of local residents.

  "What's going on?" he asked one of the shouting passersby.

  "The noble lords have arrived for a case! Just look at their riches!" an older man answered Justinian with enthusiasm.

  And indeed, there was something to be excited about. For the main street was blocked by a procession of about forty magnificently colored horses, each of them beautifully adorned, some to the point of extravagance.

  'Are those... golden horseshoes?!' the boy couldn't believe his own eyes. But he was not mistaken.

  On the horses were men in bright colors, often in gowns with the shoulders cut back, with belts adorned with diamonds and other precious stones.

  'Even one of those would be enough to cover the entire ten-year expenses of the orphanage...' Justinian swallowed.

  But he also frowned, for it seemed absurd that all these men... had come to the courthouse!

  'Ugh, there's definitely going to be trouble,' the boy thought, shaking his head. And he was not mistaken.

  Five people entered the hall. Three of them represented the aggrieved party—a lawyer, a butcher, and his son. The latter had visible signs of a beating on his face, such as a black eye and scraped skin.

  On the other side, two rather... unusual devils appeared. They were dressed in bright, vividly colored outfits that drew attention everywhere. What's more, their behavior was just as contrasting with their surroundings. They were also both horrifically obese.

  "Greetings to the beloved lord judge!" the older of the arrivals shouted right at the entrance, with a large belly and a gray, upward-curled mustache.

  Saying this, he waddled up to Justinian's bench and shook his hand, asking at the same time if his health was in order. This, of course, surprised the young man a bit, especially since a moment later, the fat devil's son did the same. Soon, however, the commotion subsided.

  Despite the tense atmosphere, in accordance with good manners, the two devils also bowed to the three aggrieved parties who had arrived before them.

  "Case number 13/169/666—a brutal, unprovoked assault in the devil's mark—" before Justinian could even finish, the fiend with the belly interrupted him.

  "Objection, honorable lord judge!"

  Almost everyone, except for his son who nodded in understanding, looked at him questioningly.

  "Meaning?"

  "The beloved lord has been misled! No such thing occurred, and I will now tell you how it was!"

  The devil with the belly waddled to the center of the room; before beginning his speech, he took another drink from a richly decorated flask. It undoubtedly contained water, as alcohol was forbidden in the devils' courtroom. The liquid proved invigorating, and soon the fiend began to speak.

  "My son, seen here, bene natus et possesionatus*"—saying this, he pointed to his slightly blushing son, who was only a little less plump than him—"was only fulfilling a sacred duty arising from devilish tradition, and if anything, he deserves a reward!"

  This caused even more doubt to appear on the faces of those gathered. Justinian even began to review his notes to make sure he hadn't mistaken the case earlier.

  "He was on his peregrinatio academica, that is, a journey of discovering the world, when he witnessed a terrible iniquity," the fiend continued, and then, feeling a dryness in his throat, he drank again from his beautiful flask.

  "What iniquity are you referring to?" Justinian asked, genuinely curious.

  The others, including the lawyer for the aggrieved, also seemed curious. After all, this devil did not look like an ordinary ruffian, and his manners were of a high standard. So what was the secret behind his son's attack on the defenseless butcher's son?

  Taking a breath, the chubby fiend turned red in the face before beginning his tirade.

  "The scoundrel present here, who dares to call himself the victim, was doing exactly what he is doing at this moment; one need only look at him!"

  Everyone immediately looked at the beaten young devil, and the fat fiend's son just nodded, showing that he agreed with his father one hundred percent. Justinian began to sweat a little because he had no idea what was going on; after all, he hadn't been in hell for very long and didn't notice anything unusual about the beaten boy.

  "What is the victim doing?" he finally asked, a little timidly.

  An absolute silence fell in the hall, although it was clear that the lawyer and the victims were also asking themselves this question in their heads.

  Hearing this, the fiend with the belly almost turned purple in the face with anger, but considering the dignity of the office, he restrained himself with difficulty.

  "What do you mean, what? He's a paltry butcher's son, a common plebeian, and he's dressing in leather boots and a cotton shirt! This is nothing other than an insult to us, the nobility!" the son of the previously speaking devil finally couldn't hold back and shouted.

  An argument immediately broke out in the hall; the butcher became terribly indignant, his lawyer began to shout, and the fiend himself was already drawing his saber to strike his opponents. Justinian watched all this in disbelief, unable to comprehend how something like this could lead to offended class pride.

  He knew that there was a certain privileged group in hell, like his own master Ignatius, and that they had a rather extravagant approach to the topic of what other groups were and were not allowed to do.

  'But something like this?' If he didn't care about maintaining the seriousness of his office, he would have clutched his head.

  Finally, however, the feuding parties had to be calmed down, so by banging his gavel on his judicial bench, he stopped the belligerent fiends. It didn't take long for him to formulate a verdict.

  "A sentence of flogging for the assault, plus financial compensation for the damages caused, and additionally a payment to several infernal orphanages as compensation for contempt of court," he announced to one and all.

  Of course, this caused joy among the victims and disbelief on the faces of the accused and his father. The latter, in particular, seemed unable to comprehend the situation and even had his son pinch him to be sure he wasn't dreaming.

  Reality, however, was brutal, and soon Justinian ordered them to be led out of the hall.

  He did not know that the problem with this group... was only just beginning. For the chubby devil, his face completely purple, shouted aloud:

  "LIBERUM VETO!"

  *Bene natus et possesionatus - well-born and possessing (property)