What is happening?, I fell asleep a little and now I'm inside some cage.
There is something that looks like a huge well behind me and I'm surrounded by stone houses. There are a lot of eyes hiding behind the corners but no one is approaching. My clothes changed to some cotton like shirt and pants and all my items are missing.

Was I captured? No, that was a stupid question, I am captured. This cage is too sturdy for me to destroy. I didn't know a wooden cage is this sturdy. I always thought that those tribal movies are exaggerating when trying to destroy their cages but this is hard to even crack. I don't have enough strength, I guess I let myself go a bit when I got my first job.

It's not my fault though, when humans suddenly gain cash the world of food opens up to you. At the very least I can escape in my mind, that was a plus. Now how do I escape physically? Since I can't force my way out the only choice is to talk my way through. Don't underestimate an adult from 2019, we are an expert of BS and lying with a straight face. I wonder if I have that language auto translate thing. If not then this will be one hell of a first contact.

"Excuse me? Can someone explain to me whats going on?"
"You have been found sleeping in the waterway by the kids. Please stay there until the kingdom claims you."
Hmm? Looks like the big boss is coming here. A tall and stout old man with thick brown beard is coming this way with a group of young men holding wooden spears.
Good, I can at least converse with them but that wasn't english. I also wasn't speaking english. So this must be the effect of the auto translate that typical otherworlders get. It basically crammed another language inside my brain.

"What do you mean claim? What did I do that deserves to be claimed by the kingdom? I am just a simple traveler."
I need to act here, like I have been here in this world for a long time, like I know what they meant or I might be in more trouble than now. Anyway, I need info, spill everything.
"You chopped a tree and killed a creature from the heroes forest. The items inside your bag will be the evidence along with the sword. Don't worry we already healed you so just wait there until the knights collect you and put you to use."
"EEHHHH!!?? that was the heroes forest? I didn't know. Can you just let me off this once? I traveled from the other side of the mountain. I was being chased by monsters so in my hunger I attacked the first food I see."

Play the fool, play the fool. Until you know what is what just pretend you know anything. However, the 'heroes forest'? is that the default summoning location? it probably is. That lazy guy must have left the default summoning location.
If that is true, what condition do I have to meet so people would recognize me as the new hero. I did come out of the same forest where the past heroes supposedly came out of.

"We can't do that. The law became stricter since multiple people started popping out of the forest 10 years ago. The hero king at that time stated that he was the last hero sent by the Great Guardians, so the following people are just fakes who wanted the privileges of being known as a hero. It's still too bad that some of those people 10 years ago went to kill the hero king."

HERO KING!! So its your fault that I can't even enter society in peace! Good job being killed, otherwise I would destroy you myself! For now more info.

"Eh? the hero king got killed? In my hometown they said that he is at the height of his power and making the kingdom flourish under his rule?"
"The merchant company's head is the hero kings son, I suppose he forcefully restricted the member from spreading his fathers death. It can't be helped, even I wouldn't want someone deliberately gossiping about a death in my family. He was apparently killed in his sleep by the survivor from the group that escaped from the forest. She was also killed by the last attack of the hero king though. That helped calm down the royalty, otherwise we would have a new ruler. That should be enough, the knights are almost here. Did you have enough grasp on this world yet?"
"huh?"
"Every hero that came out of the forest wore the same thing and had the same sword and bag. We are descendants of the first hero, who saved the world by dividing the continent between the races. Her last strike to divide the continent killed her but at the same time
we as her descendant were given a mission to give some info for future 'traveler'. When a traveler appears we get a reaction left behind by the third hero. The third hero reconnected the continents and built a neutral zone in the middle to try and help improve relationship between the races. Imagine a flower with the middle being the neutral zone and the petals being the continents of the different races. They still have bodies of water between them though. The ocean between the continents of the races have sea monsters and the neutral zone is the only safe sea passage since the hero made it shallow."

This geezer is trolling me. If you know something then say so from the start! Now I feel like an idiot for doing such a roundabout thing. I forgot that that lazy guy did not change the template message so everything we owned should be the same. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Well, I can't exactly help it either. It's either wearing that or nothing at all. I think I might have been sent to jail regardless.

"So, whats going to happen to me?"
"You will be sentenced by the judge and become a slave who works for the kingdom. The duration should be decided by them."
"Eh, so slaves exist here?"
"Its part of the reform of the past hero, this way the criminals or those drowning in debt can pay the country back for their crimes. The harsher the crimes the harsher the place they will send you to.
There are rumors that those who has life sentence are sent to the knight school to be training dummies for sparring partners, healing test subjects or interrogation dummies."
"So do I have to wear those forced controlled collar?"
"We don't have such a thing anymore. The past hero who destroyed slavery cleared those out along with everyone who can use and has knowledge of mind control or hypnosis. He also established prisons however the prison population escalated too much and taking care of them became costly so the succeeding hero made the prisoners work for their food and at the same time established a Royal farm where they work. The harvest from those are sold for the kingdom budget or given to villages having bad harvest."
"Isn't that wonderful of them. Are there any heroes left?"
"No, heroes generally appear a couple of years after the last one perishes or after a hundred years, and typically they only appear individually. So the group of heroes back then came to a surprise to everyone. No one knows the conditions to summon so take my words with a grain of salt."
"Anything else I should know?"
"You can use being one of the mountain tribe as your background. They have a lot of eccentric people and common sense in the kingdom isn't spread there so whatever you do can be considered as one of their weird practice. There are also a lot of mountain tribe who have been caught with the same charge so you would just blend in.
Its better if you ask all your questions now, those of us who know, often disappear and reappear in another village. This is to protect ourselves from other heroes who wish for us to stop informing future heroes."
"What happened to my item?"
"Looks like the knights have come. The first hero told us to collect them and stow them away until the one who needed them finds it. If you are that one then you will find it. Even we don't know where it is anymore. You can find your status card embedded in your forearm. Those in position of power have a skill, granted by the king, that makes it visible for inspection. Well then Good bye, 'Current hero', may your life here bring fortune for you and everyone else."