The kind-hearted little girl tugged at Linda's sleeve, hoping Linda would stop.

Linda put Chrona back on the ground, suppressing her anger: "If you dare to bully others again, I'll teach you a lesson!"

"Waaah, waaah." Chrona was only focused on wiping away her tears, spilling a large bag of potato chips everywhere, and her drink was also overturned, flowing all over the floor, making the cleaning staff shake their heads.

Linda's expression remained unchanged. If she showed even the slightest bit of sympathy, Chrona would never learn her lesson.

He had considered recruiting this heavily armored loli into his team, but given Chrona's current personality, he preferred not to.

"Do you still dare to bully people?" he asked with a stern face.

Chrona pouted, her eyes red and swollen.

A large crowd had gathered around, all watching the spectacle.

"No, I wouldn't dare," Chrona said, her head bowed in humiliation as she wiped away her tears.

Linda's expression softened.

The healing spell landed on Chrona's butt.

+300.

However, the external injury cannot be repaired immediately; it will probably remain red for several days.

Let's take this as a lesson.

Linda lost interest in staying after being surrounded by onlookers.

Damage testing is complete; now we can move on to the final step of creating the strategy guide.

He led Monica, Kaphni, and the three of them downstairs.

With no excitement to be seen, the crowd quickly dispersed.

The union's cleaning staff carefully approached Chrona and cleaned up the potato chips and drinks that had fallen to the ground.

Chrona picked up the half-empty bag of potato chips with a pitiful expression and hugged it to her chest.

Linda and her group left.

None of the adventurers in the hall dared to come over and speak to them.

They were afraid of offending the petite pink-haired girl.

Chrona looked towards the stairs but couldn't find Linda and the others.

Not only did they not care about her, they also beat her in public.

That timid and cowardly Monica was clearly inferior to her in every way.

Monica is only around level 15, while she is level 21, younger, and has great potential.

Monica was still poor, using a cheap magic puppet that cost 10 gold coins, while hers was a limited edition that cost 5,000 gold coins.

She's a heavily armored warrior, capable of protecting Linda in the back row. Monica, on the other hand, needs Linda's protection.

She is better than Monica in every way, and has much more.

But... Monica has Linda!

On this point alone, Chrona felt she had lost.

What exactly are teammates and adventure teams?

She felt that Linda and her group were more like an adventure team, while Xueyan was lacking something.

After wiping away her tears, Chrona began to think seriously, a rare occurrence for her.

The difficulty of this problem was significantly greater than Chrona had anticipated.

With her young mind, she couldn't answer.

The only thing she could say was that the Xueyan of the past was more like an adventure team. It felt like a family; the teammates cared for each other, and although they weren't related by blood, they were closer than family.

Aiko would take her out to play, Linda would manage her daily routine, and Leah would spar with her, guiding her on how to become an excellent heavy armor warrior...

The presence of her teammates gave Chrona the motivation to become an adventurer.

And now,

What are her goals as an adventurer?

Chrona was confused.

It seems there's no reason to continue climbing the World Tree.

...

Outside the Adventurers' Guild, on the wide main street.

Linda comforted Monica, "Don't worry, Monica isn't a nobody. Her figure is natural, and she's not vulgar at all."

"Um."

Monica was listless.

Linda sighed, glancing sideways at the magical handheld device the girl was tightly clutching in her arms, and an idea came to her.

He went to a nearby shop and spent a thousand gold coins to buy a mage-type magic puppet.

It's about the size of a fingertip. You can put it in a magic handheld device, connect it to magic, and then you can use it.

"This is a gift from the captain, take it."

Linda placed the small puppet into Monica's arms.

"But it's so expensive." Monica wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, looking like she wanted it but was too embarrassed.

When Linda protected her and went to punish Chrona...

Monica felt that was enough.

"Here you go, this is a holiday gift from the captain," Linda said with a smile.

Today is a special day.

White Thanksgiving.

Adventurers exchange gifts to express their gratitude to their teammates who fight alongside them.

Linda was busy all day and didn't have time to prepare gifts for the new team members.

"Thank you, Captain." Monica blushed and accepted the gift.

She pulled a palm-sized orange cat plush toy from her pocket and handed it to Linda with a coy expression: "This is a gift for Captain Linda."

Just a few days ago, Monica was making a living by sewing handmade dolls.

Linda smiled and took the orange cat plush toy, saying, "Thank you, Monica."

"Hehe." Monica smiled shyly, her head lowered.

Kaphni pointed to her face expectantly: "Where's mine?"

Linda was taken aback.

"I wasn't prepared."

Kaphni: "?"

The three of them went to a shop and bought some gifts to give to each other.

They were all just small, worthless trinkets.

But when I put it in my pocket, my heart feels warm.

It is said that gifts exchanged on Thanksgiving will receive the blessing of the goddess, ensuring the adventurers' safe return.

The orange cat plush toy Linda received, and the brown hanging bag given to her by Kaphni, will become her protective charms.