(A couple of moments ago)
"Fuck! I can't find a single dress that has some tactical advantage" After separating with Ghost, she was going in and out of all the clothing stores.
Considering she wouldn't be able to cast spells as when she was a cultivator, she needed a dress that would let her move around freely without restricting her movements when firing arrows.
All the clothing stores and the clothes they had for women were fancier but none of them were what she was looking for. After checking the 7th shop, she stepped inside the 8th clothing store. The store had red brick walls and greyish tiles to give a unique charm and several mannequins in glistening dresses. A bunch of cultivators including a few girls and boys was rummaging through the neatly hanged clothes racks while a sales girl approached to welcome the new customer, Gaya.
"Welcome Miss" As the girl noticed Gaya's cultivation level and realized she was only a mortal, the brightness on the sales girl's face dimmed.
Gaya was too tired to bicker with the girls as she had seen 7 people like this girl earlier.
"I want something less glittery and black will be great," said Gaya.
"Follow me Miss" the girl gestured at her to follow her to the corner while a couple of youngsters in pink uniforms were adorning a pretty girl with new clothes.
The girl seemed so happy and in such a good mood seeing the boys paying all her bills. The salesgirl beside the girl was carrying new clothes up to her neck and stumbling because of the weight.
Gaya obviously ignored this and minded her own business.
"Miss, you can find less glittery clothes for women in this rack" The sales girl used Gaya's words and pointed at a rack full of ordinary clothes.
"Hmm" If she was a princess and a cultivator, she wouldn't have even looked at the dresses before her but now, they seemed like her only choice.
"Oh?" the sales girl's browser arched upwards when she saw Gaya taking all the black clothes including tops, pants, and innerwear without even checking the size or price.
"Miss..."
"Shush, my friend and I are crazy rich. so yes, I can pay for all these" the salesgirl heaved a sigh hearing Gaya's proud confident voice.
The sales girl's face instantly brightened thinking about the commission for this sale and the high probability for a significant tip.
"Miss, if you want, you can see the new stocks over there" the girl pointed at the area where the cultivators and the girl was shopping and led Gaya there.
Up until now, the youngsters didn't notice Gaya but when she approached the area they were in, all eyes fell on her. Ignoring the gazes, she followed the sales girl and began to check the racks. The pink uniformed girl had already taken all the glittery and expensive clothes on the rack that had no tactical advantage. However, that worked in Gaya's favor as the girl already filtered the clothes making Gaya's life easier.
"Why didn't you show these to me before?" She asked the salesgirl and picked all the remaining dresses on the rack.
"Who is this peasant?" the pink uniformed youngsters were bewildered because these dresses were very costly and a peasant like her couldn't afford it, or at least that's what they thought.
Of course, by default, they branded her as a peasant looking at her cultivation level. The arrogance and pride of being cultivators dulled their brains.
Gaya heard the remark but she remained quiet because she didn't want any trouble.
"Looking at this peasant buying all these clothes, I feel cheap. Who the hell is she?" the pink uniformed girl thought to herself and kept staring at Gaya with the furrowed brows.
"Solomon, give me the juice bottle," the girl asked one of the boys as he quickly retrieved the mango juice bottle from his space ring and handed it over to the girl like a servant to impress her. The girl loved the attention and wanted to be the center of everything, therefore, when the people in the store and some of her friends started to notice Gaya instead of her, she felt pissed. In simple words, the girl had a narcissistic personality disorder.
The girl took one sip and then she walked towards Gaya to turn all the attention back at her.
Plop!
"Oops," the girl pretended like she tripped and spilled the juice all over Gaya and the new clothes in her hand.
"The fuck bitch!" Gaya lost her cool when she saw the devious look on the girl's face.
However, the devious and wicked grin on the girl's face took a turn to the worse when she heard Gaya's words. Gaya was not like Michael who spent years controlling his anger as she shouted at the girl.
"What did you call me?"
"I called you a bitch because you blind bitch spilled the fucking juice all over me" Although Michael was not with her, the no fight in the island rule gave her the guts to yell at the girl without holding back her anger.
The girl's face turned red and almost puffs of smoke came out of her nostrils in anger and embarrassment. She picked the wrong chick to mess with.
"How dare you!" the boys around the girl bared their teeth at Gaya like angered rottweilers.
"The nerve! " the girl furiously pointed her finger at Gaya and yelled, "If you don't drop to your knees and apologize, I will cut your tongue out peasant!"
"Please calm down my lords and my ladies, fighting is prohibited on the island" Both the salesgirls beside Gaya and the bitchy girl quickly reminded them before the citation escalates.
"Even if it doesn't, my friend will skin all you sons of bitches alive if you touch a hair in my head," Gaya said and didn't bother to hide the arrogance in her voice.
"We'll be in trouble only if someone alerts Lord Julius. You're just a mortal, even if we killed you and someone did alert Lord Julius, we'll only get a fine and that's like a small slap on the wrist" The girl spoke as Solomon ran to the entrance to shut the door and the windows.
Gaya's face turned dark and gloomy because she knew the girl was right.
She clearly miscalculated the girl's character but no matter what, she was not going to apologize to the girl.
How could the Princess of the Nagaland and a heavenly blessed prodigy drop to her knees and apologize to another girl?
"Five thousand gold coins for those who keep their mouth shut" the girl threw a pouch of coins to the middle of the store and made the people turn a blind eye to the situation.
Obviously, Gaya had coins to counter offer but she knew it won't work because she's alone and the girl had 8 Body Refining stage cultivators and one Level 4 Body Strengthening cultivator with her, therefore, even if she offered them more coins, the people wouldn't help her especially if they were weaker than the girl's group.
"Boys, grab her" the girl grinned evilly and ordered her minions.
"Fuck it" the bow of Legolas appeared in her hands as she fired an arrow at the girl's step at lightning speed.
"Wooh" the girl jumped back and the youngsters were taken aback by surprise. They were cultivators but even for them, her movements were too quick and caught them by surprise.
"If you take one more step, the next one will go right between your eyes" she warned the girl and carefully walked back towards the door while still aiming the arrow at the girl.
"You're fast for a mortal but I'm faster" Just as Gaya was a few steps away from the door, the bitchy girl said and waved her hand.
Plap!
The next moment, the girl appeared beside Gaya and slapped her. The force of her slap threw Gaya up against the wall and made her spurt out blood.
"Poor girl" one of the men who were watching this mumbled.
"(cough) (cough)" Gaya's vision blurred for a moment because of the slap. Her head was spinning and if the girl used a little more force, Gaya's neck would have broken.
"(Whistle)"
Chill!
The glass window suddenly exploded into pieces following Gaya's whistle as the white pegasus came to the rescue. The sudden entrance of the pegasus stunned the girl and the youngsters for a moment. Gaya mustered all her strength and jumped on the pegasus to escape the store.
Pulch!
"Ah!" Just when Gaya was about to fly away, Solomon grabbed the arrow Gaya fired earlier and threw at her viciously. The arrow pierced Gaya's chest just a couple of inches away from her heart. Blood immediately rushed out of her mouth as she gave one last weak kick to fly away.
"Get her!" the girl panicked and screamed. The girl knew if that mortal girl attracted too many eyes, they would get more than a slap on the wrist because even if the girl was mortal, Julius would be forced to severely punish them to protect his reputation. Since the mortal girl jumped out of the store with her pegasus, they had to capture and kill her before she could draw more attention.
"Hit the pegasus!" The girl quickly hatched a plan and screamed at Solomon. People outside didn't see what happened inside the store, therefore, the girl planned to hit the pegasus from inside the sore and make Gaya fall to death. That way, she had the chance to pay the people inside more and cover up what happened before the shit hit the fan.
"Kiss of death!" Solomon was an expert in long-ranged attacks and learned a few handy spells to attack a target in the distance.
Pulch!
"neigh!" In the sky, the pegasus violently neighed as a long green dagger pierced straight through the pegasus's abdomen.
"Hu..man" Gaya's vision kept blurring as she fired one last arrow at a crowd gathered on the ground below her and hoped Michael would see the arrow by some chance.
"Shit! How is she still flying?" Solomon panicked and looked at the girl for guidance.
"Fortunately the poison is driving the pegasus crazy and taking her away from the Phoenix island. Here's what we're gonna do, we're going through the backdoor and chase her without making it obvious. And if she falls to death before leaving the island, that's good but if she doesn't, we have to kill her the moment she leaves the island"
"But Maria, do we have to chase her? We should first escape the island before Julius hears what happened here" one of the youngsters questioned the girl.
"It's too late, if we had killed her inside this room as I planned, no big trouble. However, now the people outside will start to question and these people inside the store will start talking. Mortal or not, Julius has to punish us for breaking the rules. Besides, I have a bad feeling about the friend she mentioned"
She was partially right. If this happened inside the four walls and only a few people witnessed a group of cultivators killing a mortal girl, Julius might have let the killers go with a small fine after making them bribe the witnesses to protect his reputation. Especially, he wouldn't have gone to the lengths to severely punish them for a mortal. However, right at this moment, many people had seen an injured girl and a pegasus, they would start to question and the best thing Maria and her group could do was kill Gaya outside the Phoenix island and turn the story as she broke the no fight rule first and tried to attack them first.