Chapter 56: Can Hell Be Mistaken?

  Contrary to what her first interactions with the mountain's inhabitants might have suggested, Bogna adapted to her new place of residence quite well. She received a separate room in the dormitory, which gave her a necessary degree of privacy, and she had no other needs.

  It also quickly turned out that she was very hardworking. She always woke up first and, from the very morning, gathered fresh ingredients to make breakfast and dinner. Her food, although not as good as in the human kingdom, was at least a level above the poison that their previous cook, Ignatius, had fed them.

  The Emptyhead himself, meanwhile, was a bit offended that they had brought in competition.

  One day, he decided to prepare a sophisticated mushroom soup to rid himself of the "useless" label once and for all. Unfortunately, it ended with him seriously poisoning himself by mixing up the mushrooms, and they had to take extra care of him.

  The other inhabitants, however, bonded with her easily.

  Justinian didn't want her to feel uncomfortable living with them, so their relations were good from the very beginning—excluding minor misunderstandings regarding his reputation. Surprisingly, it also turned out that Franciscus, who was usually withdrawn, grew very fond of her.

  She accidentally discovered the poetry readings he held for himself during his work breaks. The devil child was very embarrassed at first, but that changed in response to the girl's reaction.

  "What a cool hobby! How do you compose those poems?"

  Pleased that his work had aroused genuine interest, Franciscus began to tell her about his writing method, to which—surprisingly—the girl had a few comments.

  "Sounds great! Maybe if you read to me, I can tell you what I like and what's worth improving?"

  Despite the child's embarrassment at such a proposal, he ultimately agreed, and soon they became real friends.

  Moreover, she aroused similar interest in Totius, who often flew after her, arguing about some matters that the rest couldn't understand.

  "What you're saying makes no sense! What even are these 'ontological monads'?"

  She commented on his arguments.

  The spirit, meanwhile, red with anger, seemed to make it a point of honor to convince her of his lectures.

  'It's really better than I thought.'

  Justinian, thinking about Bogna's integration, couldn't help but smile to himself. The last few months, since he returned to Hell from the human world, had been full of peace for him. Focusing on foundational work allowed him to slowly wall off his mind from the wounds of the past.

  He knew that, in a way, they would never disappear, but at the same time, he felt that what he was doing now was enough for him.

  On his small piece of land and in his community, he lived according to rules established with everyone, and that was really where his domain ended. There was no place here for great problems or impractical theories—they were currently beyond his reach.

  For the first time in a long time, he simply felt happy.

  That was why he put a lot of energy into maintaining this state.

  'Sooner or later, our peace may be disturbed. I must be ready if such a moment comes.'

  This resolution influenced his attitude towards further cultivation. The path of vengeance had previously led him to great strength and the defeat of the powerful Greedius. He knew, however, that this was just an illusion.

  There were beings in the world beyond his comprehension. The Lord of Hell had previously announced a holy war, the situation in the dimensions was sometimes unstable, and the shadow of Maleficus's mysterious activities still left its mark on the Sect of the End of the World.

  'If I started to rest on my laurels in such a situation, I would simply be a fool.'

  This logic translated into hours of grueling training.

  During the day, his duty was to care for the fields. The point was to keep their crops free of vermin that destroyed later harvests. Of the many ways to achieve this, Justinian had chosen perhaps the least typical one.

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  For during the day, he would spread his energy over the cultivation areas and constantly use it to probe whether any of the bushes were infested. When such a thing appeared—then, to develop his skills, he would simply create a faceless apparition, which immediately took care of it.

  At first, he used his saber for this type of task, which had managed to develop a soul in the past, but this quickly turned out to be... impractical. All because of the crimson aura it radiated.

  Because of its specific properties, he decided to use it only outside the residential area.

  'If only the issue of my cultivation could be resolved in a similar way.'

  After months of absorbing energy on the Mountain of Plague and Misfortune, he was sure he was already at the stage that would allow him to enter the second level of Foundation Stabilization. For some reason, however, nothing of the sort was happening.

  'What's worse, something is also wrong with my Ledger of Wrongs and Redress...'

  The book, created from a soul stone, did not appear when he tried to summon it.

  Instead, a single, blank page with several empty rows materialized in the air.

  No matter how he tried to contemplate justice or various transgressions, it seemed to have no effect.

  Frustrated by these thoughts, after finishing his day's work on the farm, he went to a place of seclusion.

  He didn't notice that his movement towards the solitary forest on the mountain had been spotted by its new resident.

  Walking through the increasingly darkening forest, Bogna wondered if she hadn't overdone it this time.

  She had done many foolish things in her life, but this seemed particularly out of place.

  'I just want to see where he goes every day!'

  The last few days had been, above all, a series of great surprises for her.

  She had expected to be subjected to the worst tortures by the Grim Judge and his retinue. It was a cruel fate, but for the survival of her village, she had decided to accept it. Meanwhile, the mountain's inhabitants turned out to be surprisingly... harmless?

  'The child and the spirit are a bit bizarre, but quite all right.'

  She was intrigued most of all by the legendary man, the bane of this dimension. From the very beginning, she had been on her guard around him. She fulfilled all his whims and was just waiting for him to finally show his true face.

  'So why does he keep acting like he's not terrifying?!'

  This thought frustrated her all the more because she had no idea how to go about figuring it out. What's worse, as the days went by, he seemed more and more likeable.

  Once, she even had the impression that he smiled at her warmly, which was simply unthinkable in the grim world of devils.

  All this made her even begin to question whether, by chance, her entire village and the surrounding areas weren't living under a false conviction. Hence, she simply had to investigate the matter, even if it meant risking his anger.

  Ignoring the chill running down her back like ice, she delved deeper and deeper into the ghastly forest.

  Soon, she stood before a small clearing, which she observed from her higher-up rock ledge. The rocks also continued further in his direction for hundreds of meters. Justinian was sitting below with his eyes closed, holding his saber in his hand.

  He made a few movements with it, attacking the air, but not much changed.

  'He just comes here to train?'

  Bogna frowned, observing the scene, after which a previously unbelievable opinion formed more and more in her mind.

  'Is the Grim Judge really not...'

  She didn't finish. In a split second, the man's blade, until now calmly attacking the air, began to emanate a shiver-inducing crimson glow and... a flash tore through the darkness of the night!

  She didn't even manage to scream when she heard a terrible crash and felt the ground move!

  A huge cloud of dust rose into the air, and the girl, screaming, hid her head in her arms, shielding herself from the debris falling from the sky.

  When she opened her eyes, she couldn't believe what she was seeing, and after a moment, she fainted from terror.

  Her last thought was:

  'The Grim Judge... is much more terrifying than the rumors!'

  Justinian, breathing heavily, watched as the rock in front of him collapsed under the force of his slash. What he saw confirmed his experiences from recent weeks.

  'The slash doesn't stop where it should.'

  He had perfectly calculated the amount of energy he needed to produce the desired attack. Despite this, the execution did not go according to his plan.

  In the place where the attack should have ended, other, more chaotic traces began, as if it had decided on its own that it wanted to go further and further. They weren't very deep, but in a real fight, where precision is necessary, they could prove very significant.

  This problem, however, would have to wait.

  "You have good instincts."

  A strange specter in the shadows, looking like a monk woven from willow branches, spoke to him. Earlier, while meditating, he had suddenly felt an evil energy materialize on that rock ledge.

  And now, he was dealing with it in the flesh.

  Looking at the sinister, yet flickering visage, Justinian shook his head.

  "Greetings, Hell's Voivode."

  Boruta's domain was the forests, the woods, and above all, the willows. There was no doubt this was some kind of spiritual envoy of his.

  The spirit smiled slightly at these words.

  "You've got more brains than Ignatius."

  Then, it looked at the damage in the wall created by the man's attack. It fell silent for a moment. Its little provocation had shown it something interesting.

  Justinian saw his guest wondering whether to comment on the attack.

  'He probably knows why the energy is behaving so strangely...'

  Finally, the silence was broken by the envoy.

  "You must discover what this is yourself. You shouldn't worry too much, however."

  The young man nodded. He guessed this wasn't the reason for the visit. The spirit flickered several times, as if it were about to dissolve.

  This situation dragged on for a few more seconds until, finally, it was fully visible again.

  "I'll be brief: you are to appear before me by the end of the week."

  There was something in its voice that made Justinian frown. The spirit passed by him, looking at the road below, its form blurring and then becoming distinct again every so often.

  'Is he in some kind of trouble?'

  There was no time to ask, as it nodded in his direction, as if in farewell, and this time began to dissolve for good.

  One last command flowed from its wooden mouth.

  "And bring those idiots who are dragging themselves up here with you."

  Justinian looked at the road far below, where a familiar sight greeted him. Caravan of loud Sarmatians was heading up his mountain.