After leaving the team, the adventurer ladies regretted it deeply

This was a western-style house with a white dome roof, occupying about a hundred square meters, and had a small garden outside.

However, the area was overrun with weeds that enveloped the house, leaving just a barely passable path leading to the front door.

After getting off the carriage, Kafni saw the desolate scene and her face fell, "The address the Beastman gave isn't wrong, is it? It doesn't look like anyone lives here at all?"

"That's not possible, if there was no one, even this path would be overgrown with weeds." Lin Da walked up to the door, knocked, and said loudly, "Hello, is anyone there? I'm an adventurer recommended by Lulu!"

Thump, thump, thump thump thump!

He knocked a dozen times in a row without any response.

Not at home?

Lin Da frowned and looked around, noticing all the windows of the house had their curtains tightly drawn.

On such a hot day, he pressed his ear to the wall but couldn't hear any sounds of the Cooling Magic Array running inside.

It seemed no one was home.

They had no choice but to temporarily rent a room at an inn and decide to come back in the afternoon to check again.

About ten minutes after they left, a rustling of footsteps sounded inside the house.

The person, timid as a frightened hamster, moved closer to the front door, peered out through the peephole with utmost caution, and after confirming that the two strange adventurers calling her had left, she clutched her chest and let out a long sigh of relief, murmuring in a timid voice,

"No, didn't turn on the Cooling Magic Array, that's really good..."

The young girl inside the house wore only a loose-fitting white shirt with an orange cat pattern drawn on it. Sticky sweat covered her pale skin, and despite the stifling heat inside the room, she was still clinging to a large, fuzzy caterpillar doll.

It seemed she didn't have a single point in hand, not even daring to approach the door to look.

Soon after, the girl went to the living room to check the food in the fridge, which was filled with boxes of chopped cabbage. With her and the cat's modest appetite, it was enough to last half a month.

She took out a box of chocolate ice cream from the bottom freezer and held it in her palm with a relieved smile.

"Hee hee, hee hee hee... Being useless, is really great."

After eating one-fifth of the ice cream, she licked her lips and reluctantly put it back in the freezer. She returned to the bedroom, lay back on the bed, holding a red and blue Magic Puppet console in her hand, propped against a tall panda doll,

That way, her arms weren't strained at all, the distance was good, so she didn't have to worry about her eyesight getting worse.

Using her waist to control the Magic Puppet inside, about the size of a fingernail, she made it jump, attack, beating one Slime after another.

The sun quickly set, and dusk arrived in the blink of an eye.

Thump thump thump!

Thump thump thump thump!

Another round of urgent knocking sounded.

"Excuse me, is anyone home? I'm an adventurer recommended by Lulu, I'd like to invite you to join our team!"

The clear male voice outside scared the girl inside so much that her face turned pale with fright, she buried her head in the blanket, and her bare feet stuck out trembling.

Who on earth was outside! Don't come in; she no longer wanted to be an adventurer ever again!

She begged the person outside to spare her, a useless wretch like herself!

...

"Still not at home?"

Lin Da withdrew his hand in disappointment and walked over to the window, looking for a crack to peer inside through.

If it turned out to be a house that hadn't been inhabited for a long time, he would have to consider the trip a waste and return to White Dove City.

The problem was, the curtains were drawn so tightly that not a single gap was left.

From the path outside that had no weeds, it was most likely that someone lived there.

Today was a coincidence, and the owner of the house was out on an adventure and hadn't come back yet?

"I'll come back tomorrow to check again."

Lin Da helplessly departed with Kafni.

The next day arrived.

It was still the same.

The house's Cooling Magic Array wasn't active, and there were no signs the door had been opened.

Lin Da had intentionally stuffed a blade of grass in the door; when he checked back, it hadn't fallen.

He and Kafni had no choice but to go to the wilderness to hunt Magical Creatures, spending the day that way.

Red Heart City's surrounding areas didn't have any great leveling spots: either the Magical Creatures were too high-level or too low. After a whole day, Lin Da only managed to collect 24 level 5 Demon Cores.

Selling them, he earned 50 Gold Coins, and his Mystical Points increased by 240.

The third day.

This was supposed to be the day he returned to White Dove City with the 'new team member'.

But after three days, he hadn't even seen the person.

He couldn't help but worry whether they had encountered something on their adventure and couldn't make it back...

He arrived at 75 Red Rock Avenue as usual, but this time the scene before him was different from the previous two days, lifting Lin Da's despondent spirits.

A short middle-aged man, carrying a large bundle of dolls, was walking from the house towards here.

There was a dilapidated cart on the road, its carriage filled with bags stuffed with dolls. From the corners that peeked out, one could see they were mostly chibi plush Magical Creature dolls.

But that wasn't the focus. The 'child' Lulu mentioned was a man who looked to be at least forty years old?

Lin Da's mouth hung open in shock.

"Who are you, and what brings you here?" asked the uncle warily, scrutinizing them both.

"Actually, we're adventurers recommended by Lulu..."

"Lulu? Who's that, I don't know her. Anyway, I got your point. You also want to take on the doll-sewing work, huh?"

Hearing Lin Da say so, a hint of scorn surfaced on the uncle's face as he looked him up and down—such a big adventurer, yet making a living sewing dolls like a little girl.

"Dolls, what are you talking about?" Lin Da was totally confused.

"Sewing handmade dolls, right?"

The uncle threw the big bag of dolls he was carrying onto the cart and made a few checks at random, muttering in admiration:

"Worthy of being sewn by a former elite adventurer, not a single loose thread, this joint, as seamless as it gets, tsk tsk! Paying that kid a copper coin per doll seems a bit little."

As he spoke, the uncle opened a box in the cart, which was filled with lots of cotton and shriveled plush doll skins, and said to Lin Da, who seemed to have understood something:

"Here, it's for sewing these dolls, one copper coin each. It might be slow at first, but once you get the hang of it, sixty a day is no problem."

"One copper coin each?" Lin Da's expression changed.

Sewing such a doll would take at least twenty minutes.

The pay was only one copper coin... Not even enough to buy a loaf of hard, sawdust-filled black bread.

"What, not enough for you? She's been doing it for two and a half years, very skillful, and I'm still paying her one copper coin each. You, a newcomer, aim for the sky too?"

The uncle pointed to the overgrown house and said with irritation.

"First of all, one copper coin is indeed too low, you're truly black-hearted." Lin Da's gaze became stern as he looked at the man: "Secondly, I'll give you a Gold Coin, and I want to ask, is there someone in that house?"

Lin Da pulled out a shiny round Gold Coin from his chest, engraved with the emblem of the World Tree.

The uncle's eyes immediately brightened: "You aren't planning to sew dolls?"

"Of course not!" Lin Da shook his head, "I came to find the owner of this house, having tried for three days without luck in meeting her."