Hello again readers! I bring to you chapter 3! I would also like to thank everyone for their helpful advice and kind words once more.

 

The Thaumaturgist (Chapter 3)

by

Elite Shade

 

"I've been hearing some pretty interesting things about Leera's shop," An older orc woman said to her much shorter, dwarf companion, while they made their way down the sidewalk. Both ladies were dressed in very expensive looking gowns, various jewels on display. Every piece of clothing bespoke of wealth on them as they amicably gossiped to one another.

 

"Oh, so old Zalcha's pulling another publicity stunt is she? It's a wonder that she hasn't gone out of business yet," The dwarf said as they waited at a crosswalk.

 

"Actually, Gerda, she sold the shop." The orc smirked at the look of surprise on her friend's face at this newest little tidbit of information.

 

"Truly, Sapha? Who did she sell it too? Oh I know, it was that Vishenel. She's always trying to strong-arm any competition, from what I hear at least." The signal changed, and the pair crossed along with a few others.

 

"Oh no, not at all. You know how stubborn Leera is. She would have died before letting that crafty willoso take her shop. No, she sold it to a young lady. One who recently moved to Pharanx just to open up a shop."

 

"Well now, my curiosity is certainly piqued Sapha. What have you heard about our mysterious new arrival? I take it that she purchased Leera's boutique because she is an aspiring fashion designer."

 

"Not much is known about her. Leera did say that she took one look at the girl, and saw a spark of passion and determination in her eyes. Also, that she was somewhat rough around the edges, despite being quite lovely in appearance." Gerda chuckled at that.

 

"She must be a country girl, if I've heard of one. Well, if she wants to become a fashion designer, then she'll definitely need to learn to smooth out those rough edges. Mark my words Sapha, she'll be learning all about how to appeal to a higher class of woman than what she's probably used too in no time at all." Gerda looked around at where they were. "Oh, I see that this walk of ours has taken us to the very shop. I take it then, that you were thinking that we should take the time to properly introduce ourselves to this curious new shop owner?"

 

Sapha nodded with a sly smile, her sharp tusks glinting in the noon sunlight. "Well, it would only be polite after all, Gerda." The dwarf smiled back, before taking the sight of the shop in.

 

"True. I see that she has certainly taken some... creative liberties with Leera's old shop. I don't recall there being a second chimney, nor a third. I also do not remember ever seeing any kind of multicolored smoke coming out of any chimney, at least not any of the times that I've been here."

 

"Yes, more than a few people have started to take notice. According to others, this new owner has really been shaking things up. For the past two weeks, carts have been coming and going, all dropping off many different packages, of all kinds of shapes and sizes! As well as a lot of different kinds of metals, and large orders of bricks and other building materials."

 

"Building materials? Then does that mean that she's remodeling much more than just the chimney?"

 

"It would seem so," The orc said as she reached for the knob on the front door.

 

"Is it open yet?" Gerda asked.

 

"I do not believe so. However, like I said, it's only polite," She said with a conspiratorial wink, which Gerda more than happily returned, before a thought struck her.

 

"Have you heard what her name is, by the way?"

 

Sapha smiled and pointed above them. Hanging above the door, over the sidewalk, was a detailed wooden sign with a painted carving of a hammer with electricity arcing off of it. Below that was a name.

 

Daso's.

 

"Well now, that's an odd sign." Gerda wondered aloud.

 

"Oh, you know how those country humans are with their silly gods. The orc pantheon, now those are some gods. She probably just worships one that swings a hammer for some reason or another."

 

"As opposed to Krushenek, and his mighty hammer of justice?"

 

"Krushenek wields his hammer to defeat true evil. Whereas a human god is probably just worshipped for having a ridiculously large hammer. You do not want to get into a theological debate with me Gerda, I have taken multiple classes in comparative world religions," Sapha said flippantly just before the two enter.

 

"So you like to remind everyone, constantly," Gerda said under her breath as she followed Sapha inside, where they both immediately stopped in their tracks.

 

They beheld the sight of a petit young woman, with long dark hair in a rough ponytail, wearing a blouse and skirt beneath a thick leather apron and a pair of goggles, swinging a hammer one third her size with ease, bringing it down on a red hot piece of metal next to a lit forge. She pounded on the metal a few more times, before using a pair of metal tongs to hold it up for her inspection. She looked it over with the same care and attention to detail as any artist would a project that they were pouring their heart and soul into, before nodding with a smile and dipping it into a nearby slack tub. There was an audible hiss as steam rose from the tub. She looked up to finally take notice of the two finely dressed ladies, who were looking around with faces of complete shock.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry ladies," Daso said as he wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead after removing the goggles. "I'm afraid that I'm not quite open for business just yet. But I will be all set to go in two days." Sapha and Gerda were too stunned to say anything initially, merely standing there open-mouthed, but were starting to recover. It was Gerda who worked up the nerve to speak.

 

"What, uh, what kind of shop shall you be opening in two days, uh, dearie?"

 

"I'm Daso, ma'am, and I'm a Thaumaturgist," Daso said with a bright smile.

 

 

A short time later...

 

 

Daso sighed as he finally finished tightening the last nut on the engine block of his cart. After ordering all of the metals he would need for his initial stock of various weapons and gadgets to sell, Daso also elected to order some additional materials for the cart, with the intention of not just tuning it up, but giving it a complete overhaul. He admired his work as he sat back, now remembering to smooth his skirt down again. It had been two weeks since he had arrived in Pharynx and purchased his shop, making the necessary changes to it. Unfortunately, it had also been two weeks since he had fallen into that mysterious fountain, and transformed into a woman.

 

I suppose that I'm going to have to find some other clothes for me to wear, especially some pants! Daso thought glumly before standing up. His blouse now bore more than a few tears, burn, and grease stains on it, as did his skirt.

 

I'm running pretty low on anything that doesn't show off any more than just this, and isn't a dress... Daso sighed as he looked at his grease covered hands, before the sight of his modified cart made him smile once more.

 

At least I'll be able to make deliveries! Daso looked at the timekeeper hanging above the door to the garage. The lunchtime rush should be pretty much over at around this time, so now's about as good a time as any to go find some clothes, and see what this new engine can do.

 

Daso showered and redressed, this time in a light green blouse with a matching pleated skirt. A few days prior, he had left to purchase some groceries for himself, and received a number of odd looks. Later on, thanks to the helpful advice of a passing older woman, it was due to the fact that Daso's outfit hadn't matched, and therefore looked quite out of place. This hadn't bothered Daso, as he was generally not one to care about the opinions of random strangers, until the thought of elf guard who had arrived to arrest the trio of burglars popped into his head. For some reason, the idea of possibly running into that same elf made Daso feel a little self conscious about his appearance.

 

After Daso strapped on the pair of green heeled sandals in his possession, and strapped on the new battle axe he had forged, checked to make sure that the front and back doors were both locked and his new alarm system armed, he climbed into the driver's seat of his cart. The new garage door button he had installed next to the seat worked like a charm in both opening and, after firing up the engine and driving out onto the street, subsequently lowering the heavy garage door.

 

Looking around, Daso didn't see any guards, and smirked. He revved the engine, and then let down on the throttle. The cart roared with a life it hadn't known back in Ruhk, and within seconds was shooting down the street. As Daso came up to the first traffic light, he tested the new brakes, which worked as smoothly and efficiently as he had expected them to. The light turned green, and Daso was about to peel out, when someone jumped in front of his cart. Someone with an open white linen shirt, of which the top five buttons were undone to show off his muscled chest.

 

"My love! It truly is you!" Arono said ecstatically. "The gods of fate and fortune truly have smiled down upon the two of us, to make it so that our paths would cross once more!"

 

Daso growled and shifted into first gear, peeling out by swerving around the annoying elvish obstacle. Daso made sure to drive through a nearby puddle on the street, sufficiently drenching the, as Daso would put it, love-struck idiot.

 

Hopefully, this time he'll take the hint, Daso thought as he drove, recalling the five incidents where he had run into the elf, calling himself Arono, previously over the last two weeks. The annoyances had ranged from a public declaration of love, at a cafe Daso had decided to try out, to attempting to serenade her with a guitar while he was attempting to haggle over the price of a large order of iron at a nearby metallurgist. The upside being that while the owner of the shop had found the whole situation quite amusing, after seeing Daso quickly run out and throw the surprised elf off of a nearby bridge and into the river below, he had felt that he could let Daso have a significant discount on his order. How Arono had kept managing to find him was a mystery to Daso, not that he was too concerned. Aside from being annoying, Arono seemed to be harmless.

 

Thanks to a new map of Pharanx, Daso was soon pulling into the parking lot of a clothing shop.

 

Cleona's Closet

 

That was the name on the sign above the shop. According to their advertisement in the local paper, they were having a large sale today in women's clothes. Daso was hopeful that he would finally find some pants here, or at the very least something that wasn't frilly or lacy. That also went for undergarments. He had tried to cut and re-sew his boxers to fit his new form, and the end result had been...uncomfortable, especially against his new piece of anatomy in that general region of his body. He had also tried going without a bra entirely...and that was also something he found to be uncomfortable. But every time he would see himself in the <i>proper</i> undergarments, he would still feel very self conscious.

 

Admittedly, he did not know much about women, as he had been solely focused on his work. But he did have a few crushes growing up. They had never led to anywhere though, as making his dream come true was his sole motivation.

 

Hopefully I can find something that is a bit more comfortable and...as plain as possible... He thought as he strode up to the entrance, feeling a little uneasy at the sight of the large display windows in the front of this shop, showing off several mannequins all dressed in bright and short sundresses. Daso took a deep breath at the front doors, and entered.

 

"Welcome to Cleona's Closet!" A cheery, sing-song voice said to Daso, the moment he stepped across the threshold. Daso looked up to see the smiling face of a female goblin. She had the classic bright green scales, with a bright stripe of red horizontally across both eye which were a rich hazel, of the goblins from the southern tropics. She was wearing a white floral sundress with yellow flowers. Her long, coal black dreadlocks were tied back in a loose ponytail. "May I help you?"

 

"Uhm, yes," Daso said, tentatively. "Do you have any pants or shorts for women in stock?"

 

"Of course! Would you like to show me the aisle?"

 

"Uhm... yes please."

 

"Alright, just this way." She led Daso past several rows of different kinds of clothes, and eventually to several rows of shelves with folded up pants.

 

"Here you go. Did you need help finding anything else?"

 

"Uh, no. Thanks, I've got it from here," Daso said, too nervous to ask about the location of bras and panties. He would be looking for those by himself. The goblin smiled cheerfully and nodded.

 

"Okay then, just let me know if I can help!" she said before practically bounding away.

 

She's sure full of energy, Daso thought to himself as he started looking through the various articles of clothing for jeans in a size five. Unfortunately, there were only three pairs left in jeans, which of course Daso grabbed. He was a bit more lucky in the number of shorts to pick from, grabbing more than a few pairs. As Daso made his way to where he believed the panties and bras to be, he spotted several tank tops and t-shirts in his size on sale, grabbing a few of those as well. And of course, there were several much more practical shoes in his size available, and so picked out two pairs without heels, feeling that that would be good enough. Finally, with his armload, Daso stood before the panty aisle.

 

He started to blush, feeling like a total pervert as he entered with his women's clothes. He kept his eyes down for the most part, only looking up briefly to scan the shelves for any of his sizes. He found them, but they were exactly the very kind of lacy he was looking to avoid. After a few minutes of searching, Daso managed to find some simple cotton panties and bras that would fit him, a size 34B. This was a rather limited section, as, much to Daso's chagrin, he only had two choices to pick from. Bright pink and bright red, both with a little frilled trim. Daso sighed to himself once again as he added several of the red sets to his armload. Daso made his way back to the front of the store, to find a familiar goblin waiting for him behind the register.

 

"Find everything okay?" She asked as she held up a scanner sphere to the tags of each piece of clothing, the price being displayed overheard in a light blue hologram.

 

"Uh, yes," Daso now noticed a gold name plate clipped to her dress, near her ample cleavage, "Ophiel, I found everything very quickly." Daso said, feeling awkward. Ophiel smiled brightly to him, in a manner that she hoped came across as reassuring.

 

"And that's going to come to a total of, only 198 shelt! I just love finding a good sale!" Ophiel said excitedly as she made quick work of bagging all of Daso's purchases as he quickly counted out the shelt. The money was quickly entered into the cube-shaped register, which then printed out a receipt.

 

"Just to let you know, we'll be having a sale from our make-up department next week!" Ophiel said in a chipper manner, as Daso was beginning to suspect was the norm for her, while she tore the receipt of and placed it into Daso's bight pink shopping bags. Daso turned a bright shade of crimson at the mention of make-up.

 

"Oh. Th-Thank you very much," Daso said as he gathered up his purchases and made his way to the door.

 

"Come again!" That chipper voice called out from behind him. Daso was now made away of the jingling as he opened the door, walking toward his cart. With one hand, he disabled the alarm, and loaded each bag into the covered trunk, locking it shut after closing it. After Daso got back into the driver's seat, the engine roared to life, and soon Daso was driving along. As he turned on a street that had more than a few restaurants, Daso realized that he had skipped lunch. Daso smiled as he pulled up to the curb and hopped down to the sidewalk, arming his alarm system once more.

 

Daso entered a building made of simple red brick. Daso smiled as he breathed in various delicious aromas. Looking around, Daso would say that this place had a relaxed atmosphere.

 

"Welcome to The Hollow! Table for one?" Daso was approached by a dwarven waitress, wearing a simple white long sleeve blouse and black slacks. To Daso, she sounded and looked like she was ready for a break.

 

"Yes, please," Daso said, feeling much more comfortable here than he had back at the clothing shop.

 

"Misting or Non-Misting?"

 

"Non-Misting, please."

 

"Alright, follow me please." Daso was led to a table near a large window, overlooking the street. A menu was placed in front of her after she sat down.

 

"I'll give you a minute," She said as she noticed someone else enter the restaurant. Daso nodded as he opened the menu.

 

Daso found that he wasn't familiar with some of the options on the menu. He did spot something that sounded good to him, and quickly decided on that just as the waitress walked by, guiding the new patron to the table across from her. Just after Daso placed his order and handed the menu to the waitress, she and the person sitting at the next table noticed each other. It was the elf guard, now dressed in a simple green t-shirt and jeans. Daso didn't know why, but suddenly his face felt hot, and he had to look away.

 

Okay... that's... weird, Daso thought as he tried to compose himself. He must be off duty.

 

"Miss Daso?" Tietro asked as recognition dawned on his face. He smiled a little as he saw Daso blush.

 

"Oh, uh, y-yes, officer. Nice to see you again."

 

"Likewise," Tietro said right before the waitress returned, and he gave her his order. "So how has life been treating you in the big city?"

 

"I-It's been fine, uhm..."

 

"Tietro."

 

"Sorry. It's been just fine, officer Tietro."

 

"That's wonderful to hear. Would it be alright if I were to join you at your table?"

 

"Oh... a-alright," Daso said, caught off guard by the request. Tietro smiled as he stood up and sat down again at the seat right across from Daso.

 

"So, how's the shop?" The waitress returned with Daso and Tietro's plates, raising an eyebrow at coming back to see the elf now sitting at the young woman's table, but said nothing as she set their orders down in before them.

 

"I'm just about to open it up for business, actually," Daso said as he cut off a part of the large piece of cheese-filled pasta before him, a thin layer of a bright red sauce drizzled over the top. Apparently, Tietro had ordered the same.

 

"I see that you like Gaschu as well," he said as he sliced off a bite for himself.

 

"Oh, this is actually the first time I'll be trying it," Daso said before taking a bite.

 

"How do you like it?" Tietro asked.

 

Daso didn't get a chance to answer, s at that moment, two large orcs and a human entered, earing bandanas around their mouths, each carrying a weapon.

 

"EMPTY THE REGISTER INTO THIS BAG RIGHT NOW!" The apparent leader screamed, waving a sword. His two friends were armed with another sword, and some sort of pistol. Tietro was pulling out his badge and readying a spell, his eyes glowing a soft blue, when Daso stood and strode up to the nearest of the three.

 

"STOP RIGHT THERE OR ELSE!" The human with the pistol screamed as he pointed it right at Daso, who didn't flinch. Instead, he smirked, and snatched the weapon out from his hand, breaking the robber's arm in three places in the process. He howled in pain before a single punch to the jaw dropped him. Then Daso moved on to the other two, who both decided to swing at the same time. Daso was getting ready to dodge, when both robbers flew back and slammed into the brick wall at the end of the aisle, their swords clattering to the floor. Daso turned to see Tietro, standing there, arm extended, eyes glowing bright blue, with his badge out.

 

"By the authority of the All-March, you three are under arrest!" he said in a loud and authoritative voice.

 

 

A short time later...

 

 

"Are you sure you don't need to be escorted home?" Tietro asked after the other officers had come and collected the three robbers. Daso was collecting his food in the to-go box that he had requested after the three had been dealt with. Both he and Tietro had been surprised to learn that the waitress was so grateful that they had stopped the robbery, that their meals were each on the house.

 

"Seriously though, where did you learn to fight like that?"

 

Daso shrugged. "Ruhk's a really tough place to live," He said simply.

 

"I'm fine, my cart's right outside," Daso said, pointing it out. Tietro followed the direction of Daso's finger, and his jaw dropped open.

 

"Wait, that's not the same cart that was in front of your shop, is it?"

 

"Well, it's technically not really the same engine anymore, but otherwise it is the same, just fixed up is all." Daso beamed with pride as he and Tietro walked outside, and Daso climbed back into the driver's seat, after disabling the alarm of course.

 

"I thought that you were a fashion designer."

 

"Oh no, I'm a Thaumaturgist. Be sure to come by the shop sometime. It'll be open for business in two days!"

 

"I'll be sure to, Daso." They waved goodbye, and Daso started the engine. As he made his way through the busy streets back to his shop, for some reason, Daso found the idea of seeing Tietro again brought a smile to his face.

 

Two weeks in, and I've already made a new friend, Daso thought, as his blush returned.

 

 

And there you go! I hope that you enjoyed chapter 3! As always, feel free to leave a review!