He had managed to hold on, but he was weak from starving. On the other side, the other boy was bigger than him.
As a boy born to slaves who were used to eating spoiled leftovers and animal feed, the boy also didn’t see any problem with eating these less-than-savory things. So the boy had grown up to be bigger than Loki despite being of the same age.
While he was thinking, he saw Slav and his older brother, Simon. Slav was only four years old this time, so his elder brother was carrying him.
Loki didn’t recognize most of the people here, but for some reason, he recognized the two of them. And for some other reason, he hated the two of them.
These were emotions that a seven-year-old slave shouldn’t have towards his master, but he had this feeling of hatred, and it was intense. The hatred was so intense that it was burning within him like a flame. It was unthinkable, but he really wanted both of them dead.
Loki was looking at the two of them with an intense gaze when someone threw something in his face. This drew his attention, so he looked at what had been thrown at him. He saw that it was a piece of dry, moldy jerky.
Both Loki and the other boy had been struck by something thrown at them. Both of them also recognized the jerky for what it was worth.
They realized that it was food and not just any kind of food. It was the kind of food that they barely eat once a year during special celebrations.
Loki’s stomach churned in hunger when he saw the jerky. As someone who had always grown up hungry, any sight of food was enough to induce salivation in his mouth and an encouragement from his stomach to eat.
He wasn’t the only one who wanted to eat the jerky. The other boy also wanted to eat the jerky. He had stopped crying for his mummy and was now staring at the jerky like it was the only thing in the world.
His face was focused and he didn’t blink. He even held his breath as if he was afraid that the jerky would disappear if he breathed too loudly.
But no matter how much they wanted to eat the jerky, the two of them didn’t move to take it. They didn’t dare to eat it because they had been raised not to eat anything until they were given permission to do so.
They had seen slaves who ate things without permission have holes bored into their tongues to teach them a lesson or have their tongues cut off for severe punishment.
In some rare cases, some slaves are muzzled forever, and some are starved to death for daring to take and eat a rotting fruit that had fallen from the tree. So until they are given the explicit permission to eat the jerky, they won’t reach for it, no matter how hungry they are.
The other boy could only stare longingly at the jerky. As a naive boy, he wasn’t mature enough to hide his emotions. But Loki knew that looking at it wouldn’t change anything.
He knew that looking at something he couldn’t have would only make him hungrier, so he didn’t bother to look at the jerky. As someone who was almost always hungry, he had become one with his hunger and could control it somewhat.
He was also smart, so instead of staring at the jerky, he turned to look at where the jerky had come from. He wanted to see who tossed the jerky and know what they planned to do by throwing the jerky.
The person who had thrown the moldy jerky at him was the man who brought him here. This man was the slave manager of the farm and was a servant of the Rein Family.
The man said to the two boys, "Eat it. It is your last meal."
The other boy didn’t bother to hear what else the slave manager had to say. Once he got the permission to eat, he lunged for the jerky that was thrown at him.
But Loki continued listening to what the slave manager had to say.
The man said, "This could be your last meal because if you are defeated, you will die. But if you win, you will get more."
After he said this, he jangled a bundle of moldy jerky in front of them to see.
Then he grinned savagely as he said, "If you want it, and kill your opponent."
By this time, the other boy had put the jerky in his mouth and now had some mental focus to spare to listen to what the slave manager had to say. When he heard that they were supposed to kill their opponent, the boy became afraid.
He had been raised to always obey their master, but he was just a little boy, and he didn’t want to die. So he lost interest in the jerky and began to cry.
Tears streamed down the boy’s cheeks as he cried. He opened his mouth wide and cried out, saying, "Mummy."
His crying annoyed everyone, so the slave manager took out his whip and shook it. The vibration of the whip created an intense sound of the air exploding. This quickly shut the boy up.
The slave manager didn’t beat the boy with the whip, but he didn’t need to do so to elicit obedience from the boy. Just the sight of the whip and the menacing glare of the slave manager was enough to shut the boy up.
Then the slave manager said, "Fight now, or I will bring in the wild dogs to finish you two off."
The others had been sufficiently intimidated, but he still didn’t want to fight. Most importantly, he didn’t know how to fight, and he didn’t want to die.
It was true that he didn’t want to be whipped, but he didn’t want to fight and die even more. So the boy stood there paralyzed with fear.