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The sky was overpoweringly gloomy, with thick, relentless clouds enshrouding the land.

The flames of war had ceased in Ice Rock City, but the citizens’ spirits remained heavy.

Especially the slaves who had surrendered; they were once again shackled and squatted trembling at the foot of the city wall, their hearts filled with despair.

“Hey, Cripple, do you reckon the Lord is going to starve us to death?”

The slave named Cripple scratched his head, grumbling, “How would I know?”

“Is there a need to even think about it?” Another slave lying on the ground weakly said, “The city is already short of food; how could the Lord possibly waste any on us?”

“So  we’re just sitting here waiting to die?”

“What else? You think you can fight your way out?”

The body of the questioning slave began to uncontrollably tremble, as if recalling the horrifying scene of the Dark Cavalry’s charge. He immediately shut up.

The scent of despair thickened.

The lifelessness emanating from the slaves had already attracted a few vultures circling overhead.

They were quietly awaiting their impending feast.

However, Cripple was somewhat unwilling to accept this; he was still young and didn’t want to die. Looking at the patrolling soldiers nearby, he hesitated for a while, seeming to muster his courage.

But just as he was struggling to stand up, preparing to approach the soldiers, he suddenly saw the city gate opening in the distance.

With the sound of horse hooves, a massive caravan slowly drove into Ice Rock City.

Cripple didn’t care about the caravan; all he cared about was food.

“Sir, Sir ”

“Are you calling me?” The soldier watched as Cripple approached, gripping the hilt of his knife warily, “Stand your ground, don’t come any closer!”

“Yes, yes.”

“What do you want?”

“Sir, I’m starving, can you give me something to eat ” Cripple hunched over, pleading, “I am strong, I can work for you. I can do anything!”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be assigned work soon.”

“Then  will there be food?”

“Yes, as long as you’re willing to work!”

“Really?” Cripple was somewhat incredulous that such a good thing was actually happening.

“What reason would I have to lie?” The soldier waved his hand impatiently, “Go back and stay put.”

Cripple did not leave. Instead, he nervously asked, “Sir, Sir, aren’t we short of food in the in city? How can there still be food for us?”

The soldier pointed to the incoming caravan, “Do you know what those carts are carrying?”

Cripple shook his head dumbly.

“Food!” The soldier proudly stated, “The Lord has brought back a large amount of food from the Half-Elf Kingdom, enough for all of you to eat!”

“Really really?” Cripple’s eyes shone, and his body began to tremble with excitement.

The soldier, having lost interest in dealing with this annoying slave, waved him away.

Cripple immediately fell to his knees, kowtowing towards the fortress, murmuring repeatedly:

“Thank you, Lord, praise the Lord!”

His strange behavior drew the curiosity of the other slaves who came over to ask what had happened.

Then, Cripple shared the good news he had just received with the other slaves.

Soon, the news spread like plague, and more and more slaves began mimic Cripple, kneeling on the ground, bowing repeatedly, and praising the benevolent Lord.

In an instant, Ice Rock City seemed to come alive again. The deathly pallor that had hung over the city gradually faded away, and the startled vultures flapped their wings and scattered.

Before long, the soldiers began to divide the slaves into groups of about ten. Each group was led by a soldier and assigned different tasks, such as repairing the city wall, cleaning the streets, setting up refugee camps

Cripple was assigned to a team tasked with repairing houses in the city. When he arrived with his team at a collapsed house, he felt somewhat awkward

Because he remembered that during the chaos, he had broken into this house and taken some things

With a hint of guilt, Cripple immediately got to work.

A slave next to him asked the leading soldier hesitantly, “Sir, when will we get something to eat?”

“At lunch, now get to work!”

“Good, good!”

Upon hearing that there was food, the slaves didn’t care about their hunger and fatigue. They immediately started working.

By noon, the exhausted cripple was huddled in the long slave line, heading towards the food distribution area.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally faintly smelled the aroma of meat.

Gulp.

For a moment, the sound of swallowing resounded around.

The cripple craned his neck, peering forward, but could only vaguely make out a high platform and a giant iron pot mounted on it.

After a long wait, the cripple finally reached the front of the platform.

The soldier handed him three pieces of black bread and a bowl of steaming hot meat soup.

Though it was called meat soup, there was no actual meat visible. The layer of grease floating on top and the faint meat aroma were the only proofs that it wasn’t simply water, but indeed meat soup.

Faced with this kind of food, the cripple started crying.

It wasn’t because the food was bad, but because it was too good.

As a slave, he had never tasted meat in his life.

Now that he could actually sip on meat soup, the cripple felt that his whole life was worth it!

He dunked the black bread in the meat soup and stuffed it into his stomach in a few bites, then, without caring about the heat, drained the rest of the soup in one go.

Feeling the warmth spreading from his stomach throughout his body, the cripple suddenly felt full of energy.

“Sir, will there be more to eat after working in the afternoon? ”

“Of course.”

“What about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow as well.”

“And the day after tomorrow?”

“Enough!” The soldier was annoyed and glared at the cripple. “As long as you work for the Lords, there will be food.”

At this moment the cripple didn’t know what to say. In his heart, the Lords had seemingly reached the same esteem as the Lord of Glory.

“Not only will you have food.” The soldiers gathered their group of slaves, and explained, “There are also points.”

“Points?” The slaves looked at each other in confusion, having no idea what this meant.

“Can points  can we eat them?” The cripple asked fearfully.

The soldier chuckled and shook his head: “Points can’t be eaten. But they have a great use.”

Before the slaves could ask further, the soldier announced: “The most diligent worker this morning was the cripple. No objections, right?”

The slaves shook their heads. The cripple was indeed the one who worked most painstakingly. Everyone had seen it.

“Good, then an extra point for this morning will go to the cripple.” The soldier immediately took out a roll of parchment and started recording.

The cripple was still confused. “Sir, what use are the points, exactly?”

“Points help you get rid of your slave status and become a freeman!”

“Freeman?”

At this, the rest of the slaves also jumped up. They all gathered around the soldier asking, “Sir, how many points do we need to become freemen?”

“I don’t know,” the soldier shrugged, “The Lords have said that there’ll be an assessment every month. The ten slaves with the highest points in the entire city can become freemen!”

Wow –

The slaves screamed excitedly.

They had no idea how many slaves there were in the city, let alone how precious those ten slots were every month.

But they had seen hope – the hope to change their class status!

This hope completely renewed their spirits, as if they had become different people.

When the afternoon’s work began once more, all the slaves scrambled to work like mad – afraid of being outdone by their peers.

A frenzied mood gradually enveloped Ice Rock City.