After they finished shopping for spices, Maria suggested they go look for some new clothes. This wasn't just for fun either. The three of them truly needed some new clothes since most, if not all of them were destroyed or almost destroyed during their time in the Secret Realm. Now, other than the new Sect robes they just got, the only outfit they have now are the dresses they received from Coralia, the crazy mermaid lady who wanted to mate with Mira.
Those clothes have been what they've been wearing ever since they got them and they are still in fairly good shape. They are Low to Mid Earth Grade clothes so it's only right they last this long. However, they are a bit flashy and someone smart will easily be able to determine their quality so having some backup clothes to wear casually or to specific situations wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Also, having backup clothes is never a bad thing, especially for women. You never know when you'll get into a fight and walking around naked is probably one of the worst things a woman can do in the cultivation world.
Those were just Mira's thoughts, but Maria and Celaine didn't share the same reasoning. Maria wanted to buy clothes because it was fun and Celaine just wanted to have more variety.
The three of them started walking around in search of a clothing store, but it didn't take long until they found a large store called 'Maiden's Wardrobe'. Two young attendant girls were standing at the front of the store greeting anyone that approached the store while advertising some of their products.
The three girls were impressed by how professional-looking this store was and decided to check it out.
The two attendant girls' expressions brightened when they saw Mira, Maria, and Celaine approach. They were shocked speechless by how attractive they were, but they tried not to let it show on their faces and kept a professional smile on their faces.
"Welcome! Welcome! Thank you for visiting 'Maiden's Wardrobe' and we hope you three find what you're looking for! Currently, we have long-sleeved dresses and robes on sale right now. That includes Hanfus and Kimonos. Do check those out if you get the chance! We also have an abundance of strapless dresses and short-sleeve clothes."
The two girls announced at the same time as they entered. Maria's eyes were shining at the word 'sale' while Mira's eyebrows were twitching. She didn't expect a clothing store in a cultivation world to be so… lively. From her experience, most stores and their owners hardly ever promote their wares like this. Also, sales? It's been a long time since she's heard that word.
People kill each other in this world for something as petty as being rude. Some people die merely because they were standing in the way of a bigshot. Killing in the cultivation world is as common as grass! One of the main factors of that is money and/or wealth so it's not weird that Mira's never heard the word 'sale' in a long time. Someone who says something like that is either lying or brain dead and Mira tends to lean towards the former. Most likely, this is just a marketing technique and if it is then Mira's impression of the owner of this store has risen by a notch.
The three walked into the store and found it to be massive! At least compared to the other stores in the area. The size of the store is roughly the size of a mansion. It has 2 stories and from what Mira can tell, the first floor is open to just about everyone and the second floor is restricted either by cultivation or status.
Regardless, the three of them weren't bothered by any of this, and to be honest, any clothes they find, even if they happen to be Low-Earth Grade clothes won't provide any more protection than just their bodily strength can provide.
Maria didn't waste any time and started dragging Mira and Celaine around the store. A few employees noticed them and their Core Disciple robes and tried to offer help, but Maria just ignored all of them as she picked out anything that might fit the three of them.
Celaine could only try to politely send them away since she knew damn well that Mira probably wasn't even paying attention to her surroundings. She happened to be right as Mira was currently trying to stabilize her raging emotions. No, she wasn't angry or anything like that, more like she felt conflicted. Part of her really wanted to try on a bunch of sexy clothes to show off her hot body while another part of her wanted to keep her current style of showing as little skin as possible. That wasn't the end of it either because occasionally she would feel the urge to raise the place to the ground and everyone in it.
Needless to say, she's having a bit of a rough time, but she tried to take this as a blessing in disguise. Maybe she'll be able to stabilize her condition faster if she can get through this shopping spree with Maria and Celaine.
Anyways, Maria had already raided about 20% of the first floor and was currently making her way up to the second floor with Mira and Celaine in tow. They didn't even get checked or anything since their Sect robes were more than enough to give them access to the second floor. The quality and defense of the clothes on the second floor were definitely above those on the first floor but that made little difference to the three of them. Unless they found a few Mid-Earth Grade clothes or higher, the difference in quality of the clothes doesn't mean much to them.
Most women's garments are made out of silk anyways with the only thing changing is the type of beast they get their silk from.
As Maria was storming the second floor, Celaine noticed someone approaching them and from their appearance and bearing she could assume that this person was most likely the owner. She was a rather young looking woman and looked to be around 28-30 years old. She had long legs, and hourglass figure, D-cup boobs, long brown hair, hazel eyes, and everything she was wearing was red. Her heels were red, her dress was red, even her lips were red. Her looks were definitely above average, but there wasn't anything else special about her appearance. However, she had the aura of a sly fox who was proficient in business.
"Hello, esteemed guests. Is there anything this humble servant can help you with? You three have picked out quite the number of outfits. You beautiful ladies must be quite popular in the Sect yet I don't think I've heard of anyone as pretty as you three before. Oh! Where are my manners! My name is Sophia and I'm the owner of this humble shop."
Sophia said with a smile on her face as she stuck out her hand to greet the three of them however Maria wasn't even paying attention to her and before Celaine could say anything back, Mira spoke first.
"Tsk. I'm Mira, this is Celaine and that's Maria. I'm sure part of the reason you came over is to make sure we can pay for everything or that we don't steal anything. I don't know how much this idiot grabbed, but here's 100 Spirit Stones as a deposit. We can discuss whatever you want to discuss later because Maria here isn't even paying attention and she probably won't stop until we've tried on everything she's picked out. See ya later."
Mira greeted quickly before tossing a bag of 100 Spirit Stones towards Sophia then she was dragged by Maria towards more clothes. The reason Mira tried to get away from her as quickly as possible is she didn't want to have to deal with a fox like her right now.
Sophia just stood there, stunned, and didn't move until a minute after Mira left.
"Fufu~ What an interesting child. I suppose I'll just wait until they're finished since I've been caught."
Sophia muttered and walked off.
Meanwhile, Maria didn't stop her rampage until almost an hour later! They walked towards the dressing room before Maria finally stopped running around and started handing out the clothes she picked out for each of them.
"We aren't leaving this store until we've tried on every single one of these outfits! That includes you as well, Mira! Also, I want everyone to give their honest opinion to each other after trying on the clothes! Alright, Mira… Hehehe~... You first."
Maria was almost drooling when she finished saying that. She can't help it, okay?! Mira's face is just too sexy! That combined with the outfits she picked out… She might be renouncing her sexual orientation by the end of today!
Mira sighed but nodded nonetheless. She got up with the clothes and walked into the dressing room to begin.
After a few minutes, she changed into a new dress and walked out of the dressing room to 'show off'.
"Yes! Fuck yes! You look so hot! Hurry, try another one!"- Maria
"I don't know… The white and black stripes don't really match your eyes and hair."- Celaine
A few minutes later, Mira came out in another dress.
"Hehehehe~ Fufufufu~ You look so cute with those pink frillies. It makes me want to pick you up and carry you princess style!"- Maria
"Although the outfit is indeed cute… It doesn't really match your aura or face. You look like a psychotic murder child."- Celaine
Mira didn't say anything and just got changed again.
"*Splurt* (nose bleed) Oh! My! God! I don't think I can go back to being straight after seeing this."- Maria
"I have to agree with Maria here. You look way too good in this outfit. Though I highly doubt you'll wear it, I highly suggest you buy it."- Celaine
This went on for almost 2 hours before Mira finally finished trying on every outfit.
"You're buying them all! Don't try and argue with me! I won't take no for an answer!"
Maria immediately declared as soon as Mira was done, but the latter just shook her head.
"You can pick out 7 outfits that you'd like me to buy. Celaine can pick or discard the rest. You can work out what outfits you want to pick with her. That's as far as I'm willing to go."
After Mira said that she sat down and closed her eyes, completely ignoring the blabbermouth trying to convince her otherwise.
After a few minutes, Maria finally caved since she knew that if Mira didn't want to do something then it's impossible to convince her.
"Fine! Celaine, it's your turn! Get up and start changing!"
Celaine just nodded and walked into the changing room.
The same scene continued with Maria commenting on Celaine's dresses while Mira just makes short comments like "Good", "Pretty good", "Hmph", "Hmmm", and "No". However, Maria learned to distinguish what Mira meant by those words.
"Good" means that the outfit looked around average and her tone of voice determined how average it was.
"Pretty good" means that the outfit was definitely above average and looks good.
"Hmph" means she's not much of a fan of the outfit but she doesn't hate it.
"Hmmm" can mean several different things, but depending on her tone she either means they look really good or she can't tell if it's good or bad.
While "No" means she hates it."
It's crazy how Maria can determine all of this and it just goes to show how much time the two have spent with each other.
Another hour and a half went by with Celaine trying on different outfits before it was finally Maria's turn!
"Finally! It's my turn! I want you two to be honest and tell me how I look in each dress! That includes you, Mira! I don't want these one word answers anymore."
"... Fine. You asked for it."
Maria left for the dressing room, overjoyed, but she would soon figure out that she should've just stuck with the one word answers.
So when Maria came out with the first outfit on, she was speechless at Mira's reply.
"You'll definitely get kidnapped looking like that."
Maria and Celaine didn't know what to say after that and Maria could only try and take that as a compliment, but instead of feeling good about wearing a sexy dress all she could think about were scenes of groups of rough men kidnapping her because of it.
"Okay! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said anything! Can you go back to your one word answers now?"
"No. This is what you wanted, right? I'm only doing what you wanted."
"I didn't think it would end up like this! Please! Just say anything else but that!"
Maria tried to plead, but Mira ignored her pleas. So now instead of saying "Good", "Pretty good", "Hmph", "Hmmm", and "No".
She's saying "You'll definitely get kidnapped", "You might get kidnapped", "Depends on whose kidnapping", "Only someone desperate would kidnap you", and "Not even a beast would kidnap you".
Maria really felt like crying listening to these nonsensical answers, but after a while she just got used to it because even when Mira was saying that dumb shit, she wasn't lying at how the clothes looked on her.
A few hours went by like this and their shopping spree has finally come to an end. Maria picked out the clothes she wanted Mira to wear while Celaine picked out and discarded the rest. Maria and Celaine did the same for their stack of clothes.
At the end of it all, the three of them decided to keep around 20-25 pairs of clothes each. They then finally made their way towards the counter to pay where they met Sophia again.
"Hello, esteemed guests. It seems like you found everything you wanted. I must say that you three have good taste fufu~"
"Yes we did, Miss Sophia! You truly have a wonderful store! Let me tell you just how hot my friend Mira looked in her outfits! I had her put on all kinds of dresses, but I think my personal favorite one is the pink frilly dress I had her try on! *Whistle* She looked just like a little princess and I'd be her-"
"Shut up, Maria! Miss Sophia, please tell us the price for all of this and we can be on our way."
Mira slapped the back of Maria's head and asked Sophia.
"Hehe~ No worries. Your total comes out to 350 Spirit Stones, 237 gold coins, and 99 silver coins."
Mira just looked at the lady with a neutral expression that said: "Really? You think we carry around gold and silver?"
"Awww~ Don't look at me like that. That's just how the prices are and I'm afraid that's the lowest we can go. As you can see, we sell everything here at the cheapest possible price while trying to retain the quality of each product."
Mira just stared at her for a few seconds before sighing and bringing out 251 Spirit Stones. Sophia took the bag and counted them with a smile.
"Would you like your change, Ma'am?"
"Tsk. No. Can we go now, little fox?"
"Fufu~ Yes, you're free to go now, esteemed guests. Thank you for shopping at Maiden's Wardrobe. It was a pleasure doing business with you!"
Tsk.
The three of them stored their new clothes and noticed that it was getting dark outside. It was then that Maria noticed they had another companion with them… Vulcan!
She was so caught up with shopping and trying on new outfits that she totally forgot about Vulcan.
Well, it didn't really matter much since the little guy basically just slept through it all.
After leaving the store, the four of them walked around a bit more before finding some food to eat.
After eating a relatively light dinner, they made their way back towards their residence since it was now dark outside and they were all pretty tired. Nonetheless, they all had smiles on their faces when they retired to their rooms before peacefully falling asleep.
At the end of it all, Mira couldn't help but think that she was just a little bit closer to her companions. Whether that's a good or bad thing, only time will tell.
