Chapter 59: A delegation and the Voivode

  Justinian narrowed his eyes, seeing the empty piece of paper that represented his spiritual stone. He had not summoned it, and it was beyond his control. The surrounding nobles, apart from Rudnicki himself, backed away in fear.

  'It's no wonder... this power is simply overwhelming.'

  The white-blue light emanating from it was somewhat reminiscent of the light that accompanied him when he achieved Foundation Stabilization. However, it radiated a far stronger aura. Soon, the paper began to tremble, as if it were about to tear itself into shreds.

  The whole process lasted only a moment until the paper finally began to crack at specific points, and fire appeared in its fissures!

  Worried by the process, he wanted to intervene when Rudnicki, with a serious look, grabbed his hand.

  "Watch."

  The cracks in the paper widened along with the burning fire, finally connecting and forming concrete patterns! These patterns arranged themselves into letters that formed a single sentence.

  "1. Justice does not deal with trifles."

  Exactly the sentence Justinian had just said in anger.

  The boy didn't even have time to react when the paper flashed with a calm glow and disappeared. He himself felt a wave of power, much stronger than anything before, spreading from his spiritual organ throughout his entire body!

  "This..."

  "Hahaha, de minimis non curat ius!" – Rudnicki spat this out to avoid provoking lightning. – "Congratulations, my dear friend! You've just achieved your first Foundation Stabilization breakthrough!"

  Cheers from the nobles immediately spread all around. There was no doubt, however, that only Rudnicki knew what the whole process entailed. The rest, after all, had not even achieved this realm.

  Justinian looked at him, confused, not understanding how the breakthrough had occurred at all.

  "Come on, come on! No time to stare like a magpie at a bone!"

  He signaled the entire caravan that it was time to move on. When the formation was tidied up, he patted the boy on the back.

  "So, do you want to know what cultivation is like at this level?"

  Justinian smiled sadly.

  "I would be obliged."

  "Hahaha, no problem, we're one family after all!"

  He then looked at the young boy seriously.

  "If the previous phase created an ideal character, this phase is about defining the rules that are meant to manifest your ideal in reality."

  "Meaning..."

  The satisfied noble clapped his hands.

  "Exactly, my dear friend! It's the creation of practical rules for applying that justice of yours!"

  When they arrived at the Mountain of Mists with the noble caravan, there was an extraordinary clamor and tumult from the crowds everywhere.

  There were so many devils thronging everywhere that he had only seen similar gatherings during the Holy Pilgrimage, which had ended months ago.

  He looked at Rudnicki questioningly, wondering if there was some local holiday today. The noble, however, quickly shook his head.

  Even their entourage didn't cause much attention, as there were also many other nobles in the current crowd.

  "Hey you, what's going on here?"

  The devil in simple clothes who was accosted looked at Justinian with an indignant expression. Evidently, he did not like that some human was bothering him.

  He was already preparing for a sharp reprimand when his eyelid instantly twitched. His forehead furrowed in thought, and he quickly turned pale.

  Soon, a smile blossomed on his face, in addition to large drops of sweat.

  "Sir Judge, right? Envoys from the 60th dimension have arrived and are teaching us about the greatness of the religion of the King of Names and Symbols."

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  "Hmm, has Micromegas arrived already?"

  The question came from Rudnicki, who suddenly became interested in the matter.

  "Only his envoys so far."

  The noble pondered these words, and the simple devil quickly moved away, seeing that there were no more questions for him. He looked like he didn't want to tempt fate by staying longer in Justinian's company. This was clearly the effect of his false and unjust reputation.

  "Who is this Micromegas?"

  He asked the head of the family who was supposed to adopt him.

  "The Overseer of dimensions 60+. We shouldn't delay our meeting with old Boruta."

  Seeing a rarely seen expression of seriousness on Rudnicki's face, he agreed with this assessment. Returning to the entourage, he decided to look for Bogna, who was traveling in the baggage train dedicated to service.

  With his level of cultivation, he easily estimated that Micromegas' envoys, in white robes with a disturbing black symbol, had noticed the caravan.

  However, they didn't take any action, so Justinian and the rest began to head towards the Voivode's residence.

  That's when things started to get complicated.

  "Stop!"

  A loud voice tore through the air, belonging to a red-skinned devil from Micromegas' delegation. Accompanied by two of his kinsmen walking right behind him, he passed through a field full of devils to catch up with the noble caravan.

  Unlike the local devils, they had strange, twisted horns that definitely distinguished them from the crowd.

  The caravan stopped, and Justinian, who had been conversing with Bogna by the service wagons, had his weapon at the ready.

  His fears were only amplified by the fact that he couldn't sense anything from any of these devils.

  The devil leading the delegation, seeing the human gripping a weapon toward him, frowned, but had to turn his attention away after a moment.

  Rudnicki stepped out opposite the delegation, twirling his mustache as he looked at them.

  They sized each other up, and the atmosphere became truly tense. This lasted for a moment, after which the noble burst into laughter.

  "Well, I'll be! Eredinus, you old goat! Since you got a little promotion to Micromegas' delegation, you can't even greet an old buddy anymore?"

  The devil, slightly flushed on the cheeks from the truth of the noble's words, could only shake his head. Evidently, he wanted to be treated differently now, but how could he expect that from the Orphan?

  Wanting to save face, he quickly waved his hand, pretending that wasn't the case, and suppressed the blush with a majestic, albeit artificial, expression.

  "As usual, only nonsense is on your mind. I was just curious who arrived with such a large caravan."

  "Hahaha, then take off that dress of yours and sense ki like a normal devil!"

  This comment made not only the Orphan's interlocutor but also the two other devils in the same robes blush slightly.

  The Orphan, however, was not one to have difficulty easing the atmosphere. Approaching his "guests," he quickly began to tell his stories, which provoked much laughter.

  "Are you really going to convince me that you smeared the axle with honey and lured a bear during a hunt?"

  "Knowing you, the story about the river of vodka near your house is quite believable."

  "I'll never believe that some protégé of yours killed the ruler of the mountain."

  Justinian frowned, listening to their dialogue. Rudnicki, for some strange reason, didn't allow Eredinus to finish his sentence.

  'He usually doesn't act like that.'

  The foreign devil didn't mind, however. They chatted animatedly for a few minutes, then said goodbye in good spirits. As a farewell, the Orphan heard a few words of warning from his old colleague.

  "You have brave but foolish servants. One of them dared to grab a weapon at the sight of us!"

  Evidently, the devil from the delegation did not like the behavior he encountered, which, in turn, made the Orphan's eyes widen.

  "What nonsense are you talking about? Is there really someone among those scoundrels so dedicated! Tell me which one and I'll reward him right away!"

  He immediately started laughing loudly, which only discouraged his old colleague from further conversation. Evidently, he believed that the portly noble was really capable of that...

  Of course, Eredinus mistook Justinian for a servant, but Rudnicki could not have known that.

  Bidding each other farewell, they promised to meet again later, after which Rudnicki and his entourage headed to Boruta.

  Looking at the Voivode, Justinian had the impression that he had aged decades over the past few weeks. His face, already old, was now terribly lined with wrinkles, and the veins previously hidden behind a layer of fat were now prominent.

  "My dear Lord Voivode, that is why I would like you to contribute to my request!"

  The Orphan said with a big, childlike smile.

  Boruta, listening to him, could only wrinkle his nose. The noble's request truly surprised him.

  "A human recognized as a noble? The 66th Hell is falling lower and lower because of your foolish ideas."

  Evidently, he was not happy with the antics of the nobility as a whole, and such a violation of tradition was unimaginable to him.

  "Don't all nobles descend from the magnificent Sarmatian warriors of ancient times? This boy surely has their blood too!"

  "The only true thing you said is that this human has as much of their blood as you do," the Voivode declared, waving his hand away.

  The myth of the Sarmatians was clearly irritating him, and he didn't want to hear this nonsense again now.

  The Orphan, however, had no intention of being offended.

  "That's exactly what I'm talking about! He's clearly a noble!"

  Boruta finally sighed heavily. He knew he had no chance of out-arguing this old drunkard.

  "Fine, have it your way. I'll agree to the adoption and granting him the title of nobility, but you both have to do something for me."

  Rudnicki clapped his hands, and his face seemed to express a desire to call for a great feast. The ruler of the dimension, however, chastised him with a look, so the robust Sarmatian ultimately settled for an innocent smile.

  Justinian saw that the matter Boruta was about to raise was very important to the old Voivode.

  In fact, he had never seen this devil so serious.

  "You've probably already had the opportunity to see the delegation of our friends from the 60th dimension?"

  Rudnicki nodded.

  "It looks like the re-categorization of dimensions might actually happen this time."

  "It's not so much 'looks like' as it's definitely going to happen. I've already received a message that Micromegas is on his way from the 66.6 dimension to us."

  A barely perceptible surprise flashed across the Orphan's face.

  The Voivode then turned to Justinian.

  "You will have to go to the 60th dimension."

  The boy frowned at these words. The whole thing sounded like another complicated devil custom that he wanted nothing to do with.

  "I..."

  Boruta coughed at that moment and interrupted him instantly.

  "If you don't do this, the 66th dimension will be annihilated."