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Chapter 741: 741

Chapter 741: Where Are You From?

Since they were about to be sent to the gladiator school, the two were assigned light tasks . As of now, Zhang Heng had still not experienced the cruel oppression of the evil slavery system created by the current society .

As if he had completely forgotten about them, the overseer did not come to them to assign them new tasks after they had finished their work . Hence, Zhang Heng and Varo made use of the time for a short break .

Zhang Heng started communicating with Varo a little more, trying to get as much useful information as possible . His knowledge of ancient Rome was limited to only the more famous historical figures and historical events . Varo, on the other hand, was different . Before he became a slave, he was a Roman citizen and a businessman . He was well informed about current happenings . Although he had a burly figure, he was very kind, probably feeling sorry for what he did to Zhang Heng earlier . Hence, he answered every question that Zhang Heng posed .

Taking into account their current situation, Zhang Heng first asked Varo about the status of the slaves . Varo told him that the slaves lived at the very bottom rung of Roman society . Their fate, however, varied among each other .

“Of course . ” Varro explained patiently, “For instance, slaves working in the city usually fare better than those in the countryside . That is because the city is relatively richer, and with wealthier families, it naturally led to improved living conditions for the slaves . Some nobles care about their reputation a lot, so they ensured that they provided opportunities to display their kindness to others . Most of these don’t overwork their slaves . Their job includes taking care of their masters and cleaning the house . There is not much heavy work for them . On the other hand, slaves sold to the countryside have a completely different fate . ”

Varro licked his slightly dry lips and continued . “Being sold to the countryside, slaves had to do either farming or mining . The food that they eat and their living conditions are terrible . All their masters care about is making them work nonstop, not caring about how their slaves live . The more they do, the less they get to eat . And at the same time, they will earn more money . Female slaves suffer an even worse fate . They are forced to keep giving birth to babies . Every time a child is born, that’s money for the masters . When the child grows up, they will either enslave or sell it off . ”

“Then what about the investment you mentioned earlier?” Zhang Heng asked .

“Oh, that is the best destiny for a slave with a certain talent like me . The slave can ask the owner to invest a sum of money in him and start a business . As long as you can bring a steady stream of income to the owner, your status will slowly grow . The higher your status, the less you have to serve your master . And if you are lucky, you will eventually regain your freedom . In order to motivate other slaves, many masters come up with a certain amount of money . Once the slave earns that amount of money, he will be able to regain his status as a Roman citizen again . ”

“It sounds good,” Zhang Heng said .

Varo hesitated and then added, “Actually, a gladiator… is a way out for the slave as well, albeit barely . If you can pass the assessment and become a gladiator, your status will be higher than an ordinary slave . And if you can win a certain number of battles in the arena, you can regain your freedom too . However, it is an extremely challenging task . There were many gladiators with extraordinary combat skills . Unfortunately, they didn’t survive to the day they would regain their freedom . Let alone us . By the way, where are you from? I have never seen someone with your facial features . ”

“I come from the Great Han Empire in the Far East,” Zhang Heng said .

Zhang Heng was not lying . In the second century AD, China was ruled by the venerable Eastern Han Dynasty . At that time, the Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire were the two most powerful empires globally . In the future, there would be heated discussions on online forums about who would turn out to be the winner if a fight brought out between the Han Dynasty and Rome .

Although China had unearthed artifacts like the Roman Cup, there had been no unified answer among the archaeological community regarding whether or not Rome had contact with the Han Dynasty . Let alone a battle between them . That said, such rhetorical and subjective talk with no absolute answer could go on forever .

Sure enough, Varo was at a loss when he heard about the Han Empire, and he had no idea where China was . “Then why did you come to Rome and become a slave?”

“I wanted to see what’s on the west side . That was why I traveled here . When I went to Persia, I encountered a robber . He attacked me and sold me to a slave trader . After that, the slave trader transported me to Rome . ”

Zhang Heng casually made up a believable story .

“You have been so unfortunate, my eastern friend . ” Varo mourned for Zhang Heng for three seconds . In his opinion, Zhang Heng’s temperament and well-maintained skin were proof he was a nobleman . And he also guessed that Zhang Heng was no ordinary nobleman but one with a prestigious status .

Varo suspected something wrong with Zhang Heng . Why would he give up on the good life of being part of the ruling class and come to a place that was so far away from where he lived . Not only was he attacked by a robber, but he was also sold to a slave trader . Now, there would be no way for him to return home, and it increasingly seemed like he was going to lose his life here .

However, before Varo felt sorry for Zhang Heng, he thought his own tragic experience was not much better than Zhang Heng . His mood dropped to the bottom of the sea again . At the same time, he felt that his relationship with Zhang Heng had only gotten closer . Both of them had lived a good life, but great misfortune had befallen them and turned them into slaves .

Varo could not help but pat his chest and said, “Don’t worry, if I regain my freedom in the future . I will make a lot of money, redeem your freedom from this arena, and let you return to your hometown . ”

“Thank you very much,” replied Zhang Heng politely . However, he did not take Varo’s promise seriously .

Since he knew that slaves were at the bottom of Roman society, he would not allow himself to stay a slave the entire game . Fortunately, although Rome was in the stage of slavery, that did not mean there was no way for the slaves to regain their freedom . According to Varo, they could regain their status as Roman citizens through hard work . The status of a Roman citizen was higher than that of a foreigner . Logically speaking, a civilian could also transform into a noble . Of course, it was way harder than transforming from a slave to a civilian .

Zhang Heng did not need to overthink things at this stage . He needed to focus on getting rid of his slave status first .

The two chatted for a while until dinner .

In all fairness, dinner was quite good . It was not comparable to the food that Zhang Heng ate from where he came from . Other than the beans in the porridge, Zhang Heng found meat and crabs in it .

However, Varo did not cheer up when he saw the meat . He then whispered to Zhang Heng, “It seems that they are really planning to make us enter the gladiator school . ”

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