It's "just five years" compared to the "lifetime of servitude" connotation of slavery. Is slavery an awful, despicable thing that no one should ever endure? Of

It's "just five years" compared to the "lifetime of servitude" connotation of slavery. Is slavery an awful, despicable thing that no one should ever endure? Of course. But 5 years is significantly shorter than a lifetime of enslavement. Just is rightly used here. I would also be skeptical of anyone willing to make a mortality judgment on the basis of a single adverb.