Did Chris really want to take off the slave collar on my neck? Why, all of a sudden? I had a bad feeling about it. We talked normally the whole time, but as soon as I mentioned that the slave collar is of legendary quality, everything has changed. Suddenly, his priority was to take it off. Why not before? I had it on my neck the whole time I talked to him.

Of course, getting rid of it as soon as possible was my priority too. In the first place, I didn't want the collar to be put on me, but I didn't have much choice at the time, just like now. It would be interesting to know how this expedition leader would react if I told him I wanted to keep it. Which, of course, I didn't. That was just a theoretical question.

To make enemies out of potential allies, people who could help me and have already helped wasn't something I wanted to do. That's why I followed Chris out of the tent. Lucy came with us too.

We arrived at a tent, in front of which sat a trio of slaves I knew, two beastmens and a human woman. There was another man in their company I didn't know. Or I just didn't remember him. He could be one of the slaves in the cages they put us in. Who knows? However, I noticed that the trio was no longer wearing only shoes and underwear but was fully dressed as adventurers should be.

The second thing that caught my attention was their necks. Respectively missing slave collars, thanks to which they could talk to each other by the fire. They stopped when we reached them. The man I didn't know, and not that I knew the trio more than him, looked at us.

"One of the slaves?" He asked.

Chris nodded. "Exactly, Remus. Can you take the collar off her?"

"Sure," he said, several rings appearing in his hand.

"Rings of power?" I said as I recognized their shape.

They were all the same as the one Francis activated, my slave collar with. Unfortunately for me, my mumbling did not go unnoticed.

"What?" Remus asked me. "These are the Slave Master Keys. This determines who the slaves master is. These rings activate the collars and also deactivates them."

"Sorry," I whispered.

I don't know why I apologized? I don't think what I said was something so wrong that could offend this man.

Lucy put her hand on my shoulder and smiled. "Excuse Magus Remus. He doesn't like it when people are ignorant."

"You can't deny that ignorance is the cause of most problems," Magus said sharply to Lucy, but his gaze was on me.

I sighed and muttered. "If I knew about those berries, I'd avoid them."

"What?" He asked again.

I should rather keep my mouth shut than risking upsetting this man more.

"Her ignorance is not her fault," Lucy told him. "She has a good reason for it"

"I would like to expand my knowledge," I added.

"Only a fool will remain a fool, and a wise man will acknowledge his ignorance," said the Magus.

What was he? A sage? I thought they must be old, and at the end of their lives, this one looked forty.

"Okay, let's get rid of that disgusting thing," he said with a sigh.

He stood up and took a few steps toward me. Now we were face to face, just that I had to look up. When he sat, his height was difficult to estimate, but he must have been about two meters high.

He held out his hand full of rings to the collar on my neck. I had no idea what he was doing, nor did I see any great magic. He was just looking at the rings in his outstretched hand.

"This one," he said, picking one ring out of more than a dozen. Other rings disappeared from his hand.

Where? I had no idea. He probably had an object with the same function as my ring, but unlike my working one.

"So, this is the ring that activated the slave collar on your neck. Whoever has this ring is your master. I will put it on my finger to become your master. You don't have to panic; it's the easiest way to take the slave collar off you," he explained.

"Okay," I said, doubting his success.

Magus put on the ring. He was far too theatrical for my taste, as he was taking his time. Everything could have been over a long time ago. However, when the ring touched the collar on my neck, nothing happened. His confused expression was hilarious, but I was silent. He tried it a second time, but with the same result.

"Very strange," he muttered. "Collar doesn't respond to keys commands."

"Could it be because it's a legendary collar?" The man by the fire asked.

Magus frowned at him. "What do you mean, Linus?!"

So that was Linus? Of course, who else. Beastman, one of the trio who traveled as a slave with me. Even his two companions must have known that I had a legendary slave collar around my neck.

"It's just that the collar is of legendary quality. The slavers didn't hide it," Linus said, shrugging.

"Chris, did you know about it?" He asked, his anger evident in his voice.

The leader of the expedition nodded. "She told me."

"When were you going to tell me? When I make a fool of myself?" He shouted at him.

"No, Remus, I thought if we had the key, the quality didn't matter," Chris said.

Magus stopped and nodded. "It is true. This is definitely the right key. This one activated the collar, so why doesn't it respond to its commands?"

He asked himself, but I knew from the faces of the people around me that no one knew where the error was. I had a hunch but worried about what would happen if I told them. But if I keep it to myself, there was a chance that I wouldn't get rid of the collar.

"Isn't there another way?" Lucy asked.

But Magus shook his head. "I will not destroy the Master Key that activated the slave collar without finding out why it is not working. Destroying the slave collar when I don't know its functions and abilities is complete nonsense. Destroying it could kill her as well. No - there must be a solution. There is always one."

The magician wondered where the mistake was, and I wondered if I should reveal any of my secrets to them.

"You..." He pointed at me.

"Kirra," I said.

"Sure," he waved as if it didn't matter. "… You have no idea why the key doesn't work?"

I hesitated. "Maybe?"

Instead of asking me what I mean, an unprecedented smile appeared on his face.

"Stand on one leg," he ordered me.

"Eh ..." what? Why did he want me to do this? Was this a common practice in removing slave collars?

"I order you to take off your pants," he ordered again.

"Hey," this time, I had a few nasty words ready for him.

But Chris was quicker than me. "Remus, what's that supposed to mean?" he shouted.

Magus did not allow himself to be distracted. He raised his hand, pointing to the ring on it. Remus said nothing and waited for the others to understand what he meant by the gesture. Apparently, Magus expected more than just five confused expressions from his audience because he was very disappointed.

"Is she really the only one who knows what happened?" He asked, pointing at me.

Yes, I was the only one because the others just shrugged and kept waiting for Magus to explain. He did not.

"Could you please tell them what they're missing?" The Magus asked me as he rubbed the bridge of his nose "...Kirra"

"Oh, me? ... good. So where to start. Hmmm...Magus Remus is right now wearing the Master Ring...Key. So he should be my master, and I should not be able to defy his orders. Which obviously I am," I told them.

"Ah." rang around me when everyone realized what had happened.

"Exactly, it means the collar doesn't work," Magus said.

"It didn't work on her, even when the slaver controlled it." A human woman, one of the three adventurers captured by the slavers, remarked from the fire.

"That's true, the slaver forbade her to talk, and she could," said the cat woman.

Everyone's eyes were on me now. They didn't even have to say anything, and yet I knew they wanted an explanation from me.

I shrugged. "It never worked. From the very beginning, I didn't feel the need to obey anyone's orders."

"Then why didn't you run away?" Lucy asked me.

"How could I? There were more of them. They were stronger, and with better equipment, I wouldn't stand a chance. They would catch me right away and beat me. No thank you!" I said.

Lucy smiled sadly at me. "Sorry, that was a stupid question."

"The question is why this is so," Remus said.

I sighed because I had to tell them. If I wanted to know the answers, I had to tell them. Otherwise, I couldn't even get rid of the slave collar. I had no idea how this world worked, didn't have the knowledge to do it. Magus Remus could have it, but I won't get the answers if I hide the essential information.

I scratched my neck before I sighed again. "Can it have anything to do with me now owning the collar?"

"The owner is the holder of the key, that is, the master of the slave," said Magus.

I nodded. "I see, but what if one of my Classes changed the ownership of the collar to me?"

"Aaaa - then you should be the master yourself," Remus said with a smile on his face.

That's what I thought. The man immediately removed the Master Key from his finger and handed it to me. He didn't have to tell me anything to understand what he wanted me to do. By putting a ring on my hand, I'll become a master and should be able to deactivate the collar. Simple, isn't it? Theoretically yes, practically no.

When I tried to put on the ring, I received an electric shock from it, along with a message from the system.

(ding) A slave cannot be a master.

"It told me that a slave cannot be a master," I said as I rubbed my sore finger.

"You are a slave?" Magus asked me immediately. "Is your class a [Slave]?"

"Yes"

Remus frowned. "Did they make you choose it?"

"No," I shook my head. "When they put the collar on me, the system gave it to me."

"So, it rewrote one of your professions for you?" He asked.

"No, I only had one when it was assigned," I explained.

"Why did you have only one class?" Magus asked, but then waved. "It doesn't matter, so you have the class [Slave]. Then it is clear that you cannot be a master. But if you can't become the master of this key, you can't take off that collar."

"I thought it would be easier to take it off," Chris said.

Like Remus, Lucy thought about it. "So, couldn't we change her profession?"

"I was thinking the same thing," Remus said with a nod.

"How do I do that?" I asked immediately.

Magus Remus looked at me as if he had just seen an idiot. I wasn't surprised, because it was probably something everyone here knew. It wasn't my fault. I wasn't as stupid as he thought, just not local. Fortunately, Lucy rushed to my rescue.

"When you open your Status Screen in the box with your Slave class, there should be symbols in the upper right corner, right?" The healer asked me.

I immediately verified her claim, and that was the case. Similar symbols were in the lower-left corner.

"Click on them," she told me.

After clicking on these symbols, which I had all the time just for a kind of lavish decoration of my menu, an option appeared in front of me.

(ding) Change class Slave N / A

"Okay, what happens if I change my class?" I asked.

"Really?" Remus asked, whom I was trying to ignore now.

"You can change your class and abilities whenever you want, but you will lose all the experience gained in them. You will not get them back even if you choose the class or skill again. You will always start at zero exp. I don't think it will be a problem in your case," Lucy said with a smile.

I nodded. "No, it won't."

I confirmed the change.

(ding) Warning! The selected change can be made after removing item [Slave Collar]

"Shit," I swore aloud. "I have to get rid of the collar first," I replied to the others' questioning glances.

Except for Remus, everyone frowned. Magus seemed in his element, pensive, but with a smile on his face. There was a problem before him, and he wanted to solve it. It was a challenge for him.

"Did you say that the ownership of the collar has changed, thanks to one of the classes? Can't you change it?" He asked.

"Good idea," I said as my hands starved the box.

But with the [Bearer of Legends] class, I didn't have that option. The symbols were in the box's corner, but only an empty window opened when clicked. I described my discovery to others. Just to be sure, I also checked the class [Toothbrush Fighter], but I didn't have the option to change it either. Right now, however, I didn't intend to change this class. It saved my life.

"So when the slaver put the collar on you, you only had one class. That's why the collar was able to give you the class [Slave]. The system responded to this and gave you a class that nullified the effects of the collar," Magus tried to sum it up.

Yes and no. I don't think the system wanted to defend my freedom. It responded to the collar because it was of legendary quality, as were other items I owned. The result was the class [Bearer of Legends]. The fact that the ownership of the collar changed was only a side effect of the class.

"Another option would be to choose a third class that neutralized the effects of that class and allowed you to take off that collar. But right now, I can't think of such a class," Magus thought aloud.

"I can't change my first profession either," I told him. "I've already checked it out."

"You have two curse classes," Lucy said with tears in her eyes.

She hugged me before I could react. It confused me a lot, but I returned her hug. I had no idea why I should need it.

"What the hell is a cursed class?" I asked, hugging Lucy.

Chris explained this time. "A class you can't change. Usually, the system will assign it to you or get it thanks to a curse. It may be after the blessing too, but it doesn't really matter how you get it because you just can't change it. It is not often that someone hasn't chosen three classes. The person in question usually loses a class to which he has devoted a lot of time. It's just a curse."

"Ah, I see," I nodded.

I was lucky in misfortune. If I was supposed to have a cursed class, I was lucky to have them from the very beginning.

"Then the last option is to remove the collar by force, to destroy it, but as I said, I do not recommend it. Because I don't know exactly what functions the collar has," Magus said.

"I don't think it will work," I said.

Remus frowned. "...and why is that?"

"Well, before, you wanted me to take off my pants. The slavers tried it too, but they failed. I think my class prevents items in my possession from being stolen from me," I explained.

"Can I try?" Linus asked immediately, but that earned him a slap on the head from his companion.

Then Lucy shouted at everyone. "No one here will take Kirra's pants off."

"Then we'll have to believe you in this," Chris said with a sigh.

I frowned at him. Did all the men really want to see me naked here? Well, I believe the Magus would just like to know if this is true or not, so not everyone. But I couldn't say I was different. If I had the opportunity to look at a naked man, I would use it. I just wouldn't make it so obvious.

"What else should we know about your class, Kirra?" Magus asked me. "Before we try to cut the collar off of you."

"Hmm… You can't identify the things I own. That should be all," I told Remus.

Magus smirked. "Can I?"

"Sure," I nodded at his question about breaking the taboo.

Remus narrowed his eyes and then smiled. "On my, I couldn't even find out the names of her equipment. You have an extraordinary class, Kirra. It is similar to some merchant classes aimed at protecting items from theft and identification. It is also a pretty strong class. It managed to rewrite a legendary item's ownership, and I couldn't get any information. A little unfortunate considering that any information would come in handy when removing that collar."

"I'm sorry for the trouble," I apologized.

"You have nothing to apologize for. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I have no idea how to get rid of that collar right now. I will have to search in books for some answer when I return to my tower," Magus said.

"Tower? You have a tower?" I asked him.

Probably every would-be mage had a tower. Maybe mages weren't that common. However, this was inconsistent with what I saw during the night raids on the slavers. I've seen a lot of mages at that moment. The second possibility was that Remus was a really powerful mage.

"Of course he has; every Magus has his own tower," Chris told me. "Although some are not so spectacular."

"Hey, I don't need a tower hundreds of meters high. Who's supposed to walk those stairs?" Remus said.

"You could fly," Chris replied.

They argued like two little boys. Nevertheless, it was clear that they were friends and knew each other well. Magus surprised me again as he waved his hand, ignoring Chris's remarks, and creating a dome-shaped barrier around us. The three adventurers remained outside the barrier.

"Remus?" Chris asked.

"No one else can hear us now, so I'll ask," he said, looking at me. "Kirra, are you an Otherworlder?"

Well, apparently, no fool could have become a magician. He figured it out himself. It was clear from the tone of his voice that he was sure of that. He only asked me out of decency.

"Yes, I'm not from Elaaden," I told him.

Magus nodded. "Will you become my disciple?"