Chapter 60 A Day Off
On the morning of the 7th day of training, Mira was standing in front of everyone as she was about to make good on her promise from before.
"We will not have training today! You are free to do whatever you want today! Go explore the city or laze around, I don't care what you do! But if you go around the city, go in groups as it might be troublesome if you go alone. I will be going around the city with Maria, anyone who wishes to join us may do so. Just come forward right now and we will prepare to head out!" Mira announced. They didn't expect this training maniac to say something like this today. Maria was also surprised as Mira didn't mention this before. People started to walk forward as they wanted to join Mira's group. Alicia, 2 girls from the Zaria family, and 5 more people that were from the bandit camp joined them. One of the women from the bandit camp was the assassin that she started to train 2 years ago. They were the 2 women that were pretty decent at the martial arts that she was teaching, but she didn't understand why the other 2 were here. She recognized one of the 2 women from the Zaria family. One of them was Ariel, the girl that investigated the 'Forest Goddess' incident, but she didn't recognize the other one.
"We finally meet again, Mira. It's been a few years. I'm Ariel Zaria if you don't remember." Ariel re-introduced herself.
"Thank you for training us, Mira. I've been wanting to talk to you this past week, but never got the chance. My name is Avery Zaria." A girl with dirty blonde hair approached her and introduced herself as Avery. Then the 5 women from the bandit camp introduced themselves to everyone as well.
"My name is Bella. I'm glad that Miss Mira decided to take us in and train us. You have truly changed not only my life but theirs as well. Thank you!" One of the women that were good at martial arts said. She had average brown hair and brown eyes like most of the villager women.
"My name is Flora, Miss Mira. I hope that I can join you today!" The other girl with brown hair and brown eyes that was good at martial arts introduced herself.
"My name is Raven, Miss Mira. Thank you for training and guiding me." Raven had black hair and hazel-colored eyes. She was the assassin that she was training a while ago.
"My name is Isabella! Thank you for saving me 2 years ago and training me, Miss Mira! I've been able to make a lot of new friends and have been granted a new life because of you!" A shorter and livelier girl said. She had dark blonde hair.
"My name is Katie. I'm not particularly skilled at anything, but I hope that you continue to take care of me in the future." A shy girl introduced herself. She had light brown hair and brown eyes.
"My name is Alicia! It's nice to meet everyone!" Alicia said.
"Let's all get along and have fun today! Oh! My name is Maria by the way!" Maria said excitedly.
"I see. I'm Mira. Go get ready to leave. Maria will be the guide for today." Mira said as everyone went off to get ready to leave. Mira just kept on her black Daoist robe and black mask. She even borrowed a pair of black gloves so nobody can see the color of her skin.
Soon, everyone came back wearing clothes that were nicer than what they usually wore. The villager girls just wore the best thing that they had, while the 3 Zaria girls all wore hanfus. Maria wore a pink hanfu with a golden lining, Ariel wore a completely white hanfu, and Avery wore a red hanfu with a golden lining.
"Let's go!" Maria exclaimed as they made their way out of the Zaria house and towards the rest of the city.
Maria was so excited about this day that she held Mira's hand while going out of the door and didn't let go. Normally, Mira would've shaken it off, but she let it slide this one time.
They were getting a lot of attention because they were all beauties. Even though the village girls weren't the best-looking women, they were still cultivators. Becoming a cultivator generally made someone better looking than when they were mortal. Plus the 3 Zaria girls, especially Maria, were very beautiful. Mira's body was almost completely hidden, but people guessed that she was a beauty as well. But they could feel a chilling and malevolent aura coming from her which made most people not focus on her.
"Why are you wearing that mask, Mira? I'm sure that you are beautiful under that mask!" Avery decided to ask.
"It'll only cause trouble if I show my face. I'm not arrogant when I say this, but the first thing people say when they see me is Goddess. This is the only way for me to walk in a city peacefully." Mira explained and the 8 other women nodded simultaneously.
"It's true! Mira's way too pretty to be walking around a city without the strength to threaten the city!" Maria exclaimed as the others nodded as well.
"Really? Can I see? I'm a little skeptical about that." Avery asked as she doubted that someone could be that beautiful, but everyone seemed to agree that she was. She definitely wanted to see someone like that.
"Maybe later." Mira said as they continued walking as they forgot about that conversation. They then made their way to a dress shop. The 6 village girls wanted to get something that was a bit better looking than what they currently have. The Zaria girls were happy to go shopping with them and Mira just tagged along. While the other girls were shopping, Mira decided to buy some more Daoist robes for future travels. She bought 10 more Daoist robes in her size. It cost her 10 Spirit Stones as they were actually made from magical beasts.
"Mira! Come here!" Mira then heard Maria calling for her. She hesitantly walked over to her as she didn't know what she was planning to do. Mira reached Maria and got dragged into a dressing room with a stack of dresses and different clothing to try on. All 9 girls were in the dressing room as well.
ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ
"I'd rather not try any of these on. Especially the dresses that don't cover all of my body. If I have to try these on and wear one, then it will be a hanfu." Mira stated firmly.
"Eh? We just want to see what you look like in a dress! But you will have to wear a hanfu later as we will be going to a restaurant." Maria persuaded Mira. Mira really didn't want to do this, but a promise is a promise. She just sighed and slightly nodded.
"Yay!" Maria jumped up as she started to remove Mira's black robe.
Maria then put a red dress with white stitching on Mira. It went down to her knees, only had straps that went over her shoulders and showed off her small cleavage. Mira's skin was like a refined Icy-Jade and was incredibly beautiful. This matched her Icy silver hair as well. Maria then took off Mira's mask as nobody could see Mira other than them. Her cole chiseled face appeared in front of everyone. A face that would even put gods to shame. Her wine-red eyes that now had small blue veins in them were incredibly deep and intoxicating. She was like the ideal look for any woman. She only needed bigger breasts, but really, she didn't. The rest of her features are too beautiful that you don't even want to look at her chest. Avery just sat there staring at Mira. She had the same reaction as everyone else.
"WOOW!! You look so beautiful in that dress, Mira!! You make me want to snatch you up and keep you for myself!" Maria started to yell in amazement.
"It seems you became even more beautiful since the last time I saw you, Mira. I didn't even know that was possible. You are definitely the envy of all women in the world and will constantly be chased by men." Ariel said in a little bit of disbelief as the others said something similar. They couldn't even feel jealous as Mira seldom showed off her looks and they could also see never-ending trouble if they had those looks.
"Now I understand when you said that she is just too beautiful. That would be an understatement for what I'm looking at right now!" Avery commented when she came out of her stupor.
Everyone committed this scene to memory as they kept making Mira try on clothes. Eventually, Mira went ahead and bought a black hanfu that had red flower embroidery on it as well as a red sash. Mira walked out of the store while wearing this hanfu and her black mask as the rest also bought hanfus and changed into them.
All 10 women were now wearing beautiful hanfus as they made their way over to a restaurant of Maria's choosing. They soon found the restaurant and it was called the Lunar Fox Restaurant as it was named after the city. It is also one of the best places to eat in the city as well.
The waitress saw this group of beautiful women and gulped. These women looked stunning in their clothes, which only made Mira seem even more beautiful than the rest of them even though she couldn't see her face. But she was sure that there was a beauty under that mask, it was just too overwhelming that she needed to put on a mask.
"P-P-Please, a-allow me to guide you to your table, Honored Guests!" The waitress stuttered as she tried to be as polite as possible as she brought them over to a table that could seat 10 people.
Once they were seated and ordered the food that they wanted, the girls then began to talk.
Bella, the village girl that was good at martial arts asked Mira something this time.
"How do you know so much about unarmed combat, Mira? Especially when nobody fights with their body that much." Bella asked and everybody else was also interested.
"That question is a bit complicated to answer how I learned, but I guess you could say that I learned it from fighting for countless years. I trained at any place that taught a different style. I would then spend years practicing and fighting as I traveled to the next place that taught a different style. I would fight anybody and everybody to master the techniques. Before I was a cultivator." Mira tried to explain as much as she could without saying that she was hundreds of years old and was reborn in different worlds that didn't have Qi.
"Why did you want to learn those styles? What was the point? Do you enjoy fighting without a weapon?" Flora asked this time. She disregarded the part about before being a cultivator and practicing for years as she knew she wouldn't get an answer to those questions.
"I was searching for ways to get stronger and increase my battle prowess. The point of learning those different styles and techniques was to kill! I hate using a sword and other weapons other than a scythe. I'm terrible with anything other than a scythe. I just don't have any affinity with any other weapon. I couldn't use a weapon well and didn't have a scythe, so I only had my limbs to use. I would beat and kill anybody that was in my way with my bare hands instead of with tools. You could say that I enjoy fighting like that. You can feel your opponent's body break when you smash them with your legs and fists. It feels like you are doing something. But nothing beats using a scythe though. Using my fists is only a hobby now." Mira answered back with a detailed explanation. Everybody was a bit surprised by that answer too. Mira is terrible with the sword? That just doesn't seem possible. Raven then decided to speak up.
"I've been wanting to ask, but why did you kill that woman after you killed all of the bandits? I feel like there might've been a better solution where she could've lived with the rest of us. She could've been happy like us." Raven asked and the mood at the table dropped. Mira wasn't bothered by this question though.
"There are several reasons, but the main one is that there was no way she would've lived past that day. If I didn't kill her, then she would've done so herself. This might've created a chain reaction in the group of women and a lot more might've followed in her footsteps. The likelihood of everyone dying would've skyrocketed if I didn't kill her. Could you really be happy right now without my scythe lingering over your head? Seeing someone killed in cold blood like that can stimulate your survival instincts and create the need to live. I could've made a lot of different choices that day, but ultimately there wasn't a wrong or right choice. I did what I felt was best. I guess another reason is I could see myself in that lady too. It's easy for me to kill her, but hard for her to do that to herself. I might as well just end her suffering." Mira explained her thoughts on the matter and Raven was surprised by that answer. She didn't expect that Mira had actually thought about it so much and it seems that she needs to change her thought process a bit.
"Have you been practicing your assassination skills, Raven?" Mira decided to take the initiative to ask.
"Yes, I still worked on them. The ladies have gotten much better at sensing my presence and forced me to overcome that. I still feel like an amateur, but I'm much better than 2 years ago." Raven said with a hint of pride as Mira just nodded. Ariel and Avery were wondering what they just heard. Assassin? This girl was training to be an assassin?! They never would've guessed! How scary!
Soon their food came and they continued to talk with each other while they ate. The village girls felt a bit closer to Mira than before as they actually got to hear a little bit about her life.
More and more people were strolling into the restaurant now and Mira's table was the point of focus for everybody. There were a lot of men that were whispering to each other and wanting to go over there and talk to them. Most people knew Ariel, Avery, and Maria. Nobody knew Mira and the others though. But everyone was extremely pretty.
Soon, a handsome young man came walking up to their table.