"Work points," Big Beard said, "are a slave's money! You'll get one more free meal tomorrow, then everyone has to work! Work earns you work points, and work points can be exchanged for food, water, and even clothes and sugar!"
"Sugar?!" a slave exclaimed.
That was something a slave could never hope to touch.
Big Beard chuckled. "If you perform well, it's not impossible for you to shed your slave status and become freemen in the future. You could even buy your own house in Porcupine Territory and live under the Lord's protection."
"Shed our slave status?" The group, which had been gloomy and lifeless, suddenly buzzed with excitement.
"Can we really shed our slave status?"
"Of course," Big Beard said with conviction. "Because I was once a slave myself!"
'From a slave to a man in charge... what did you have to do?'
Luca didn't know, but he desperately wanted to shed his slave status.
