I find myself sitting by the table in the middle of my dinning room at home. Looking down, I notice... MY FAVORITE CAKE!!!

Feeling in the mood for something sweet, I quickly grab the fork lying there and plunge it towards the deliciousness in front of me!

* ding *

"Ha?" I inadvertently let out a yelp as my fork hit the glass table.

That's strange... did the cake move or something or am I going senile? I try yet again!

* ding * * ding * * ding * * ding *

"Damn it! Come back here cake!" I yell, while giving chase to the cake that flew off the table and into the living room.

Suddenly, the world begins to shift and fade as the cake disappears out of sight...

NOOOO!!! DON'T GO!!!!

...

"Mmmmm..." I let out a moan as I slowly begin to regain consciousness. But due to the feeling weakness all over my body, I try to resist waking up, wanting to go back into my dreams. I mean I have to... have to...

Have to what? What was I dreaming about again? ... last I remember... my favorite customer came in... and betrayed me... then sicked his hero on me! Ugh!

Good thing that was a dream... because that would really suck... though... why did I want to go back to such a terrible dream?

Out of habit, I reach for the [Slave Collar] on my neck, as I have been doing so for the past few months whenever I woke up. It serves to me as a painful reminder that I am in a harsh world where everything is out to get me if I am not careful. Of course, it's not like I actually want this reminder! If it were up to me, I would have gotten rid of this shameful blemish on my life as soon as I got to this town! But as always, reality proved to be far crueler than I could imagine.

When I was on the way to Hallion with the patrol, it goes without saying that I inquired on how to remove the [Slave Collar]. To which I got a simple answer, go to the slave dealer. While Avian Kingdom does not allow the outright slavery of Beastkin, they do have slavery for criminals. Keeping people locked up costs too much money and effort, and killing them outright is wasteful. So instead, they are forced to work as crime slaves.

Since slavery exists to a lesser scale here compared to neighboring countries, the removal of [Slave Collars] can only be done at large cities, and Hallion is luckily one of such cities. The actual removal of the collar though depends strictly on your situation. If your paired slavery rune is still active, aka your owner is still alive, the procedure is pretty expensive and can cost quite a few gold coins depending on the quality of the slavery collar. The whole process is like a complicated decryption process from what I understand, and that may require better tools or someone who is well experienced in that manner. In the case the paired rune is inactive, which usually means the owner is dead, the cost is pretty cheap. Especially for the lowest tier of slavery collars that I have, which costs only a few iron coins to remove. And the procedure in itself is pretty simple, all you have to do is let them take their special tool that is used for programming the slavery collars, and let them reprogram it for a few minutes. And just like that, you are free to go, easy peasy!

THE HELL IT IS!!!

Sure, the procedure in itself may sound simple in theory... that is of course as long as you are willing to let a human touch your [Slavery Collar] using the same tool that they used to enslave you with in the first place! Just the mere thought of ANYONE touching the collar, let alone a human fills me with utter dread! Every time I tried to muster up my courage, I found myself uncontrollably shaking unable to even move... I mean seriously, do they not understand mental health in this world?!? What next, are they going to put a doctor to cure the fear of fire on the other side of a hoop of fire?!?!

And unfortunately, humans are the ones predominant in the slave trade. So finding another major town that happens to have a non-human to remove the collar is pretty much as hard as finding a needle in a haystack. And even if I do find them, I don't even know if I would be comfortable with anyone touching it....

I even thought about the possibility of trying to replicate the tool, but even that idea was like grasping at straws. Only those who are authorized are allowed to come in contact with the tool in this country, since well, their primary use here is enslaving criminals. So as one can imagine, they don't want anyone tinkering with their tools. On top of that, you can't even remove your own collar even if you wanted to due to the safety restrictions.

Despite all this devastating news, there is a bright side to all this. Since my [Slave Collar] is of the lowest class, the moment I reach level 25, the collar itself would disarm. In same way items have restrictions on minimum level, this collar has a restriction on maximum level. So I just need 3 more levels... and I'll finally be home free!

Due to the sluggishness in my body, it took a while, but I finally managed to reach for my sla-

"HA?!?!??!" I screamed in utter shock as I quickly felt up my neck over and over not feeling my collar...

"What? how ha? was it all a dream?" I questioned, but to quickly deny such notions, a sharp pain assaulted my body!

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!' I complained as my sore body now started to regain its sensitivity.

But despite all that, I still managed to open up the [Equipment Menu] and confirm two crucial things. First of all, for some reason the [Slavery Collar] has been removed, and second of all... Me being reincarnated was not a dream... No... make that three things... I realized as soon I took a look around the unfamiliar room... that nightmare was also not a dream...

"I see you are finally up" said the traitor as he opened the door into the room.

Yup... definitely not a dream... I glare at the traitor with hostility, without uttering a single reply...

"Let me reintroduce myself, my name is Harold Asher" said the traitor seemingly not getting the hint.

I know who you are! You are a treacherous lying... well now that I think about it, you didn't actually lie per se, but that's besides the point! All I need to know is you're the bad guy! Seemingly convinced of my superb logic, I double down on the glaring!

"I have some good news for you! Starting today, you are officially part of the party of the one and only Hero of Hallion! Aren't you thrilled?" the traitor enthusiastically remarked.

...

Yup, DEFINITELY the bad guy!

"No! I hate you go away!" I declared, not willing to let any more of this go on.

Suddenly the enthusiasm on his face disappeared as though it was all a lie...

" * sigh *, I guess it won't work out so simple ha... Well anyways, I'll inform you of this. We have officially bought out your contract from the [Blacksmithing Guild] for 5 platinum coins, so one way or another, you are now officially part of this party... so hopefully we can get along" the traitor informed.

WHA?!?! 5 platinum coins! that is like 25,000X my previous value! I am so happy that my worth is increased by so much.... NOT! STOP TRYING TO BUY ME! I AM NOT FOR SALE!

"So I've been sold into slavery?!?!" I exclaimed, fully displeased with this turn of events.

"I'd prefer you didn't see it that way..." the traitor responded with hesitation.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?..." I retorted in disdain.

"Look here, it's nothing at the least like slavery. We have your contract for 2 years, that involves all the benefits you get from the guild plus we'll even pay you on top of that" the traitor assured.

"So what you are saying is... I am a corporate slave now?" I questioned.

"Cor-parat?... Anyways, you are by no means a slave. More accurately, you are a party contracted blacksmith. And considering the high level of this party, you should benefit quite a lot from this opportunity in my opinion. Normally, you would have to wait till you become an Advance Disciple before you can start hiring yourself out to parties, so we had quite some resistance from the guild. Luckily though, the Guildmaster stepped in, saying his intuition told him that the guild was not where you truely belonged, thus an exception was made. You may not get another chance like this for decades. If you want, we are even willing to sweeten the deal and renegotiate the contract for more benefits. What do you say?" the traitor inquired.

My eyes open wide in shock! SANTA SOLD ME OUT?!?! Damn you Santa! I should have known! I mean think about it, Santa suddenly starts sending out presents to everyone on Christmas, and for free at that... isn't that a bit too good to be true? Not to mention, it isn't like he is the one making the presents himself... no... in reality he runs a slavery ring of elves all year round! And then during Christmas, he sends out free presents as a PR campaign to hide his sinister ploy! It all makes sense now!

Putting my silly conspiracy theory aside, I was about to respond when...

"Hmm? Mayo is awake~?" said a voice from behind, as the owner of the voice walked into the room.

"Hii?!?!?" I shrilled, and started pushing myself back to get as far distance as I could from the incoming nightmare!

* BAM *

Only to inadvertently topple off the bed... ouch... darn you hero! You'll pay for this!

"I missed you Mayo~! Come over here and give me a hug~!" yelled the hero as she made her way toward me!

In sudden fright of the incoming doom, I ignored the excruciating pain in my body and ducked under the bed as though my life depended on it!

"Keep that THING away from me!" I screamed!

"Hmm... Mayo?" the hero questioned in confusion.

"Now, now Ariel, leave this to me and let's not complicate things any more than they need to be" the traitor intervened.

"But..." the hero insisted.

"No buts!" the traitor retorted, as he pushed the hero out of the room.

"... Who is going to protect Mayo..." the hero pleaded as she was pushed out of the door.

My name is not Mayo! and the only one I need protection from is you!

"She will be safe here, and in the worst case, I am here so there is nothing to worry about" the traitor assured and closed the door.

"Now then... what do you say?" asked the traitor while looking at me, who has already stuck their head out of the bed to make sure the coast was clear. Well I do have my senses, but can't be too careful... they have already failed me twice...

As for what do I say? I say you as a hero's party member, you have a solemn duty to the world to fulfill! and that duty is murdering the hero in their sleep! But you can't even do that one simple job!

Everyone knows that wherever a hero goes, it is bound to cause destruction and strife. Events that normally happen once a millennium are triggered at every town they go! Heroes are the enemy of mankind! By eliminating the hero, it would do the entire world a huge favor!

Maybe... just maybe... I need to step up! You know the saying, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself!... I can already imagine it... * evil grin *

~~~~~~

The hero falls asleep, and I tiptoe into the room, coming to the bed I slowly grab a pillow and suffocate the wretched hero! Nyahahahaha!

Suddenly 2 arms extend upwards!

"Ha?" I let out in surprise.

"Mayo~!" the hero mutters in her sleep.

The 2 jaws of death grab me and begin to hug me tight as she turns and compresses me with all her might!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!"

You have died due to being constricted.

~~~~~

A cold shiver went down my spine... On second thought, it is definitely the job of the oldest party member, yup! for sure!

"Well?" questioned the traitor bringing me out of my stupor.

Looking at him straight on...

"Time..." I muttered.

"Hmmm?" questioned the traitor.

"Give me some time... you know... to think things through..." I requested.

"Alright I understand... I can give you a day to think about it, but we don't have long. I need you to make another 50 swords within the next 4 days if possible..." informed the traitor.

"Think about it very carefully. Personally, I think it would benefit us both tremendously if we cooperate..." the traitor added as he made his way out of the room.

...