"The solution is simple. Eika has already disobeyed my orders once. Based on the words of the women who rented her out to me, Eika is already on thin ice. At the end of the week, I will inform the guild of Eika's "less than satisfactory" performance. I will complain heavily about things that are not verifiable in any particular way. I cannot accuse Eika of stealing something, they can just order her to tell the truth, revealing my lie. However, I can accuse her of being disagreeable, annoying, difficult to work with, needy, and generally being a huge pain, things that her own testimony cannot verify or deny.  As one of the towns "Heroes" they will have to respect that to a certain extent. After that, I will also reveal that she disobeyed orders, which caused me risk of "great bodily harm, and possibly death." With all that said, I suspect the slave guild will have her demoted to the "Dredge" occupation. The lowest form of slave according to the guild. A day or two afterward, I will return to the Shivering Shackle, saying that Eika's conduct has wounded my pride, or some other nonsense, and I cannot just let the situation go. I will then demand she be sold to me, so that I may "Teach her" the error of her ways. Hopefully, between Eika's bad reputation, my reputation as one of the town's saviors, and the guilds own obvious dislike of Eika, I can buy her off of them for basically nothing." L shifted her weight a few times as she considered his proposal. "I suppose that is acceptable. After-all, you are doing all of the lying and manipulating. I can only criticize your own actions so much. It's no longer my place to be your judge..." She trailed off for a few moments. "Until the end of the week, I suggest you continue trying to accrue levels the best you can."

Over the next few days, V discovered what was surely one of the reasons for the low combat levels of the town guards. After he had hit level three, the level one mantises started giving less experience. He supposed that made a certain level of sense. As they had no longer presented any challenge to him, even in the Swordsman Class. Even from a less... numerical standpoint, the fights no longer provided him with any insight or... well... new experiences. Nonetheless, he continued leveling until the end of the week came, however, due to the dangers of the forest seemingly increasing daily, his progress was slow. Only able to track and kill a few normal mantises a day. V and Eika had also started seeing corpses of forest animals rotting, and mangled, laying around in the forest. The day before week was over, they were examining the dead body of a bear. "Eika has never seen anything like this. Bears are extremely rare in this forest; they are good at hiding. But I cannot tell what is wrong with its body... It does not look like something tried to eat it. This makes Eika uncomfortable." The body had been rotting for some time, it was hard for V to get a good idea on what had happened to it, but he could have sworn it looked like it was tore entirely open. Not like one might get slashed open in a battle, but like its entire body had been cut, from head to back paw. "We need to get out of here. The smell alone is going to kill me soon." Eika nodded in agreement as they left the scene.

By the end of the week, he had only managed to level up to level four. His total kill count for the whole week, numbered twenty-seven, including the gorilla mantis he slew at the start of the week. Not too bad, V had no real reference point for how fast or slow leveling up should be, but he was satisfied with the situation. He headed back to the slave guild with Eika. "You are going to have to tell them how you disobeyed once you return." She lowered her head, pulling her ears down. "Eika remembers..." V continued, "You know your disobedience almost got us both killed. And, I think one of the forest fairies sacrificed itself to save us. It also got you hurt, and for that matter, a ton of trees were destroyed." V did not necessarily want to make the poor girl feel bad. He never considered himself a monster, but if Eika believed that her disobedience was an awful, terrible act that endangered her and everyone around her, causing death and destruction, that is how she would report it when ordered to. He needed to make sure she was demoted, that the guild saw her as worthless. V mused to himself, another example of how this world relies on the perceptions of people. Make her believe she is a horrible person, and she will report being a horrible person. As Eika dragged her feet behind him, he pushed open the door to the Shivering Shackle.

Gergor was standing behind the front desk, his arm in a sling. He nodded to V when he walked in "Oh hello, we have been expecting you! I trust your work in the forest went well?" V folded his arms and did not immediately respond. Gergor looked at Eika, hiding behind V, ears down, head hung. "Oh joy." He pointed to the back room, and Eika sorrowfully walked off. "Well, you better tell me what happened. At-least you lived through whatever it was, unlike the last guys." V sighed exaggeratedly "What didn't she do? First off, she disobeyed a direct order." Gergor's expression was one of shock "I didn't think she had it in her to tell you the truth." V nodded "Ya, tell me about it. She endangered both of our lives! We found a monster in the forest, something that might have even given that damned woman a run for her money! Then, instead of following an order to get the hell out of there, she refuses because she thought some of the forest wildlife was in danger. At the time, I had no idea if her getting herself killed would have cost me her purchase price of fifty gold, which frankly, I cannot cover. So, I had to make sure she survived." V figured throwing in the sentence about the monster being big enough to challenge O was a nice touch. Remind him not only that I saved the town, but illustrate the danger Eika placed them in. Gergor bowed slightly "Ah... I’m deeply sorry about that. My assistant should have mentioned, in a situation like that, an investigation is launched to determine if the reason for the slave’s death was, in-fact, due to disobeying. If that was the case, a genuine rebellion, you would not be held accountable. You would be surprised the things people come up with to get out of paying for a slave rental..." V waved his hand dismissively, "Good to know, but that aside, it does not end there. He took up a somewhat aggressive stance, putting on an aggravated air "That girl is the worst. Even when she is doing her job, she is the worst. Advice when I don’t ask for it, words when I don’t need it. She constantly got in my way both in the forest and at the inn. Once, she took so long getting ready to head out, that I thought something was wrong so I went to check on her. She was standing there half dressed! And once, in the forest, I had just slain a mantis, and she comes running, yelling and hollering. Could have gotten us all killed. Also! she..." V ranted for at-least ten minutes. Spinning a tale of half-truths that made Eika seem as annoying and awful as he could manage.

Gergor bowed again, this time a little deeper "Ah... apologies. Even though Eika has always been a problem, I was unaware she was that... difficult on a day-to-day basis for her renters. To be honest, I think you are the first week long contract she has ever had. I will see to her punishment; I suspect she will be shipped off to the capitol when the caravan leaves in a few months." A certain look of regret passed Gergor’s face for a quick moment. "Anyway Sir, I hope you understand, Eika does not reflect the normal quality of our establishment." V paused a moment before nodding "I suppose I was warned about her, but even so. To be selling something that... defective... it is a stain on this places record." V swiftly turned and exited, making sure close the door a little too hard. Heading back to the Inn, he smiled to himself. It was not the most complex of con-jobs, but it was nice to get back to what he was used to.

He sat down, as he ate dinner he spoke with L "For the next day or two we should wait, let the guild think it offended one of the town "heroes" then both me and you will head over, and ill demand to be able to take "retribution" on the girl myself. You don’t need to say anything, but just having you there will put even more pressure on them." L crossed her arms, she clearly still felt some pain from her wounds, but her range of motion had returned. "I suppose I should congratulate you on finding an efficient solution, but I find it difficult." V shrugged, he never asked for her congratulations, just her acquiescence. "I'm curious, you don’t find the practice of slavery dishonorable?" L looked at him for a time before responding. "No. Everyone serves someone or something. A warrior serves a general. A general serves his lord. A lord serves his cause, whether that be his responsibilities to his land and people, or some divine calling. As for the Gods... I do not know what they serve, perhaps they are ruled by their own desires. A slave is just a servant who, whether by weakness or by law, lost their freedom. As it is the slave’s duty to serve, it is the master’s duty to care for them." Silence hung in the air between them for a while before V spoke up again. "Well... anyway... now that you can move fairly easily again, do you want to spend the next two days practicing? I have gotten better at fighting you know, with your handicap, I might even stand a chance." She tilted her head and gave him a look "A chance of not losing right away, is what I meant." V clarified.

For the next two days, V and L spent most of their time sparring just outside of the town. Her pain slowed her down considerably, but she still wildly outmatched him. V had come to realize that attribute ranks and skills amplified your natural skills and abilities, and L's natural ability with the blade far far outstripped V's. He wondered how many attribute ranks of difference it would take for him to be able to match her at his current skill level. Him an S and her a B? He smiled to himself, in some ways, her being his first companion in the Gods Game was providential. Sure her honorable nature was... restrictive, but what he lacked in force she made up for. Through their sparring V used both is Divine Class and his Swordsman Class. Neither one helped him stand up to L's blows particularly well.

The morning of the third day since returning Eika, V and L set off for the Shivering Shackle. L had given the reward for "killing" O to V. She said she did not want a reward for something she did not do, and on-top of that, they figured they might need more then V's ten gold. Even as a worthless slave, Eika was still a slave, they were expensive. As they opened the door to the shivering Shackle, they heard a loud crash from somewhere inside the building. Gergor, who was standing at the front desk swore. Noticing them, he nodded quickly "One moment, I’ll be with you shortly." He quickly headed toward the noise, swearing and cursing the whole way. "Sounds like things are going well today." V spoke softly to L "That works for us, I doubt he will want even more trouble today, he will want to see us out of his place as quickly as possible." L simply nodded with a harsh look on her face, arms crossed.

"Sorry about that. We have been having a problem with a certain... creature." Gergor worked his shoulder as he spoke, he had been holding it when he returned. "Anyway, what can I do for the two of you?" His gaze lingered on their faces a moment. V wore an angry expression, and while V was sure it was not intentional, L's facial expression only added to the air of displeasure. "Well, to be honest, the more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I’m a hero! I saved this whole place! And a slave, a rabbitkin no less, had the gall to almost get me killed! I cannot let something like this go. Even if my pride was not at stake, how would it look if someone like me let someone like her off easy after all of that?" Gergor nodded slowly, appraising the situation. "Well Sir, you should be happy to know that the Slave Guild approved her demotion to Dredge occupation. In-fact, just last night it was made official." For a moment, there was hesitation in Gergor's eyes. V relaxed slightly "Well, at-least I can count on your guild to get things done. However! I cannot let the girl off that easy. I wish to show her what the consequences of disobeying an order really means!" V slammed his fist on the table. "I want to take that girl and throw her into the forest. I want her to "save her precious animals." On her own, see if she can live long enough to make the trip worth it." L's expression became even more critical, if that were even possible. V was sure it was only because of his blatant lies and nonsense, however it only served to increase the pressure on Gergor. "Ah... well, that makes sense sir. I can't just give her to you however. You have your pride and I have mine, not to mention a business to run. I can let you have her at a bargain price though! Not only due to her downgraded status, but as an apology for the trouble she caused." He pulled out a scroll from under the desk. It was much fancier then the one V had thumb printed before. Gergor unlocked a cabinet and withdrew an ink well. Even with his lack of knowledge, V could tell that it was a special item. The inkwell had what he could only describe as "Mystical runes" on the sides. Gergor spoke as he wrote on the scroll "I can sell you Eika for fifteen gold. Half her normal price due to being a dredge, and then another ten off as an apology for the trouble caused." That was most of his money, but he expected it would be. In-fact he expected this to be a harder sell, perhaps they have had even more trouble with Eika then he had expected. He nodded "I’m willing to pay that. Though she is not worth even that much."

Gergor finished filling out the scroll and handed it to V. It read sort of like a status.

┌——————┐
Seller: Shivering Shackle
Purchase Price: Fifteen Gold
Name: Eika
Age: 16
Race: RabbitKin
Occupation: Slave (Dredge)
Class: Tracker Lv 6
Skills: "Tracking Lv 3" "Hearing Lv 5" "Smell Lv 5" "ForestCraft Lv 3"
Thumbprint of Local Guild Manager {  }
Thumbprint of New Owner {  }
└——————┘

As V looked it over, Gergor inquired "I trust everything is as you expect?" V nodded and handed Gergor the money, making a sour face as he did so. "If you are ready, we can finish the transaction. I will have Eika sent to the Inn you are staying at in a few hours. We will need a little while to prepare her and finalize the transaction." V pricked his thumbprint, as did Gergor. Once they had both imprinted the contract, a notification appeared to V.

┌——————┐
You have fulfilled the requirements to become the Slave Owner Class!
Class: Slave Owner Lv 1  0/50
Attribute Scaling:
Strength: E
Agility: E
Constitution: D
Awareness: D
Willpower: C
Skills: Commanding Lv 1.
Abilities: None
└——————┘

V blinked a few times. Well, that was... neat. Unexpected, but perhaps useful. He spoke to Gergor "Well, with that taken care of, I have other business to attend do. It is good we were able to come to an accord." Gergor nodded and bid them a good day as L and V left. Once they had put some distance between them and the Shivering Shackle, V let out a massive sigh and leaned on a nearby wall. "Man. I hate acting like that. I'm actually not very good at it. I'm way better as smoothly lying my way through something. The whole "forceful angry guy" act really takes it out of me." L pursed her lips "Well I’m sorry that this plan required you to lie in a way you don't enjoy. I will admit, it worked better than I was expecting." V laughed slightly "Ya well, you looked ready to murder someone the whole time, so I suspect that also helped a lot." L rested her hand on her sword hilt "I guess he did not pick up on the fact that I was thinking about murdering you." V smiled as they continued back to the inn. This was the sort of life he loved. Threats, sophistry, manipulation.