After a while, every cuffed prisoner was assigned to their roles.
Pretty much everyone became Work Slaves, except the old man, Julian, and Kiernan. It was a pretty poor group of slaves.
"It would be a pretty horrible set of slaves except for those two young men," Mael said to the hooked-hand pirate. "Y'know, Fighting Slaves aren't sold directly, so I am buying them off of you."
"Sure, not a problem," the hooked-hand pirate accepted a heavy-looking money pouch and tipped his tricorn hat. "Nice doin' business with ya!"
"A wagon is waiting outside!" Mael shouted to the slaves. "The Work Slaves, and you, old man, go there. You'll be sent to the auction hall."
The dispirited slaves left the basement for their new lives.
"And you two…" Mael looked at the two young men. "I'll take you two to the barracks. You will wait there for your matches."
"How does one win their freedom?" Julian asked.
"Everything will be explained to you there. Just remember, you're still slaves. While you're on top of the slave hierarchy, you're still below everyone else on this island!"
Kiernan and Julian briefly nodded.
They then followed the large-bellied man out of the slave house and then started making their way down the narrowed streets, and after a ten-minute walk, they arrived at the barracks.
It was a gated compound. It had walls that were at least ten meters high. The building looked like it was made from clay. It was quite big with a balcony that oversaw the training yard.
A sound of fighting came from inside.
Mael knocked on the gate, and then one of the guards opened it with a look of wariness.
"Two new slaves for y'all."
The guard looked at the two young men. He nodded. Then let them inside before closing the gate in front of Mael's nose.
Without lingering around, Mael turned around and left back for his slave house.
Inside the compound, the soldier pushed the two young men inside the open-doored building and tapped his staff on the ground.
"You two, wait here!" The guard shouted before walking away.
"Hmm…" Julian turned around to the tall walls. "Can we jump over them?"
"Not a chance," Kiernan said.
"Bothersome…" Julian said, and then had an idea. "We got the money, right? Maybe we can buy our own freedom?"
"If we suggest that, we'll just get robbed of the money and beaten down. We're slaves, after all. We should also keep any notion of having money secret because, y'know, Count Sander."
"Hmm, shit." Julian scratched the back of his head.
At that moment, another man came with the guard. It was a short-haired, sleazy-looking man who was both short and ugly.
However, he also wore outfits that were beyond what any common man could afford. He was clearly a nobleman.
"New slaves, huh," Otto muttered under his breath, eyeing them with disdain.
"So, how can we win our freedom?" Julian asked.
"Who gave you the permission to speak?!" Otto screamed and waved to the guard.
The guard retrieved a leather whip from his belt and whipped Julian across his chest.
"Argh…" Julian stumbled back with a whip mark stretching across his chest.
The whip even slashed through his shirt!
"Know your place, slave!" Otto screamed. "You're nothing but trash below our feet. An insect. You speak only when I give you permission. You don't have any rights anymore, got it?!"
"…" Julian stood with a cold look.
"Take them to their quarters!" Otto waved his hand and then walked away.
The guard pushed the two young men and led them to their quarters. The quarters were underground, dark and damp with no windows.
When they arrived there, there were already over a dozen other slaves. They were lying on the cold and hard ground because they had no beds.
The guard then locked the door and left.
"New meat, aye!" A bald-headed slave called out. "Welcome to your new life of misery and despair!"
"If these are the conditions of the highest-ranked slaves, I wonder how it is with Work Slaves," Julian whispered to Kiernan.
Kiernan then walked over to the bald-headed slave. The slave turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"How can you win the freedom?" Kiernan asked bluntly.
The bald-headed slave blinked before laughing. The rest of the slaves also chuckled and laughed. It sounded hilarious.
"Oh, seeking freedom, I see!" The bald-headed slave stood up and was as tall as Kiernan. "Let me tell you something: stop dreaming."
"Tell me." Kiernan replied defiantly.
"Hah, this guy…" The bald-headed slave grinned. "Alright. We're using Star System here. All the slaves are ranked from 1-Star to 5-Stars. As you can see, we're all 1-Star slaves!"
"We, as 1-Star slaves, have the worst living conditions." Another slave said. "3-Star slaves and above have beds. They even get to eat meat twice a week."
"To have a chance at freedom, you must become a 5-Star slave." The bald-headed slave said. "You will fight another 5-Star slave in a deathmatch, and if you come out victorious, you've earned your freedom."
"The opponent is usually from other barracks. This is Otto's barrack, and he hadn't had a 5-Star slave in quite some time, which has made him quite angry as he has become a laughingstock among other barrack owners."
"To become a 5-Star slave, you must at least be Martial Grandmaster. There's no other way. I can tell that you two haven't even experienced your Age of Growth.
"Sorry to say, but it will be another ten years for you two before you can have a chance. If you survive that long."
"Ten years, hah…" Julian laughed. "Ki… I mean, Tobias, are you willing to wait that long?
"I have two months before my school restarts, I will be out before then." Kiernan said coldly.
"Hahahaha!" All the slaves laughed.
"We got a comedian over here!"
"For now…" Kiernan cracked his knuckles. "My friend Jason and I will be the rulers of 1-Star slaves; got it?"
"Huh?" The bald-headed man stood up in anger, so did other slaves. "What the fuck did you say, arrogant dipshit? You think you can just come here and order us?"
"Yes." Kiernan lunged forward. "Iron Smash!"
The fist sent the bald-headed man flying across the room, crashing into a wall.
The slaves looked shocked but then looked angry and rushed to Kiernan with screams flying out of their mouths.
"Hahaha!" Julian laughed and punched a few of the slaves in the face.
'These are all Martial Champions.' Kiernan looked at the slaves with a cold look. 'All I see is free experience points.'