Chapter 4. Finding trouble.

Thaum walked through the streets. People watching. He mentally kept count of all the new species. Seven so far. He also noticed the stares he was getting. Apparently, news of an off-worlder travels fast.

Modern architecture got old fast, and the attention got old faster. Thaum grabbed a personable-looking man and asked, “where can a guy find some action around here.”

The man was taken back, “sir it depends what kind of… action you want.”

Thaum replied, “woman”

After the initial awkwardness and a small token of appreciation, the man was rather helpful. He even made suggestions on which places were good, and which to avoid. So Thaum did the responsible thing and went straight for the most dangerous place.

However, after a few streets someone caught his eye. Or he theirs. The moment they saw him they changed direction straight for him. Thaum had other plans and turned into an alley. Checked that he was alone and ran vertically up the wall.

A well-dressed man. Probably a butler if his memory of the styles wasn’t too out of date. Went through the alley looking for him. He walked like a soldier to Thaum and Thaum passed on dancing to someone else's tune for the moment. So the butler would only find frustration for now.

He jumped down from the roof. Slowing to a gentle landing and walked the other way. Now he would go to the second most dangerous place. It was in the other direction and would prevent him from meeting his new follower.

Maybe it was the way he dressed but Thaum was getting a lot of attention. He guessed one of these random people tipped off the butler of his new direction. Thaum saw him first this time and turned another ally. Leaving a little spell there as he went.

Thaum went in a new direction once again. A smile tugged his lips when his spell activated. It would do nothing for now. It was far harder to figure out who attacked you when the spell stayed dormant for a while. And this was one of Thaums favorite tricks.

However, now Thaum was turned around now. There was no find brothel spell. So he was forced to ask someone where one was. His original target. Ten minutes later his spell pinged him showing the butler had arrived there first. Which was good because he didn’t go where he asked directions for but a third place. There was no find brothel spell, but following a group loudly talking about going to a brothel worked just as well.

Thaum would be sure to remember the man who he asked directions from who obviously sold him out. He would curse them with very sweaty feet for a few months. No dry socks for betrayers.

He entered the brothel. The entrance guard barely glanced at him as he passed. Inside there were girls lined up on chairs against the wall. Thaum swept the group with his eyes. They were mostly fives. A few sixes and as many fours.

There was a single guard half asleep in the corner and no one to even greet him. Thaum stood there for a second before leaving. No doubt the butler would show up before he finished. He wanted to at least start his business before annoyances showed up. But the speed of communication here made moving privately difficult. He waited in an ally for a few minutes. Leaned against a wall. His spell pinged the butler at the brothel he was just at. Thaum frowned.

Thaum chuckled. He had a good idea. His hands went to his face. Bone crunching ensued and he donned the face of the man he asked for directions. The clothing and height were wrong. But he could slouch to make up for the height and buy new clothes.

He found the nearest clothing store and quickly picked out the outfit he saw the most since coming here. Shorts a shirt and sandals. This was far cooler considering the desert climate and he stopped using temperature control magic on himself.

Thaum gave the clerk a gold pick. A thumbnail-sized piece of gold rectangular in shape and quite illegal to trade with. The clerk didn’t seem to mind. Easily fishing out a device that verified the material. It beeped gold and Thaum smirked. He created this himself as it would draw less attention and he wanted to check if someone could tell it was magically created. He let the clerk keep the change and left.

He started towards his original first target. The place the brothel connoisseur absolutely told him to stay away from. On the way, he made sure to use the new face properly. He found a massive man possibly half-alien and all muscle talking to an acquaintance. Thaum walked in front of him and said, “do you remember me.”

The man put off by sudden accusation tone frowned, “no, should I.”

Thaum slapped the drink out of his hand and replied, “look closer then.”

The man-alien towered over Thaum’s hunched form and growled, “I’m looking real close and all I see is a real punch-able fa--”

Thaum interrupted, “good.” then used a mana-infused fist to knock the wind out of the man, then kicked him in the head knocking him out. The acquaintance was halfway through saying, “what the fu--” before he too got knocked out.

The few onlookers/witnesses were stunned. Thaum ignored them and walked into another ally. Then appeared with a different appearance on the other side. He turned into his original appearance just before getting to the brothel.

The entrance guards here looked mean. The ones inside looked at Thaum and all but cackled like villans. The girls were better looking which was a plus and there was even a gambling section. This place would be perfect.

Thaum preempted the greeting madam and threw two gold picks onto the counter, “I’ll take number six and the rest on gaming tokens.” Number six referring to a numbered chair with a thick with three c’s redhead sitting in it.

The madam tried to engage in small talk. Thaum has seen this before. She was trying to get a gauge on him to see how closely she needed to watch this new patron. She wasn’t very good at it going by the bruises Thaum’s improved vision picked up under some of the girl's makeup.

He mostly ignored her attempts at prying and almost smiled when a guard moved to stand in the hallway where his room was. With the door closed the redhead got to work. She also tried to get a feel for the new customer, but her methods were mostly flirting and much more crude than the madams. She practically asked him if he liked hurting women directly with her questions. Thaum played along as a mostly innocent guy.

Thaum stripped down and made sure to throw his clothes all over the place. It was his way of telling the guards later he had no hidden weapons. Then he got to business.

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A while later.

Thaum left the room satisfied. Wondering if he should relock that part of himself. He didn’t think there was something wrong with doing it, but if the urge from this body got in the way too much. He would. This body seemed to have a rather large libido which could be a problem.

He reached the end of the hall and smiled at the guard who frowned in return. ‘fuck it’ he thought once again. He was intending to live this life fully in the new Galaxy. He would just need to grab a companion, or two to solve the problem.

He went downstairs and heard the muffled whispering of the redhead. Thaum took his tokens to the gambling section and saw the redhead and the guard come down together. Things were progressing smoothly. Although it was hard to fuck up the fucking part.

Thaum sat down at a dice game and asked for the rules. Appreciating that gambling was the same no matter where you went.

He put down tokens and started rolling dice. He lost a little then won a little. Then won a lot when his little magical nudges weren't noticed. Thaum just indulged in the game for a little while. The time limit was a certain butler showing up. So he reluctantly got to work.

He placed bigger bets and played up the wins and loses. Soon he had a woman on each arm and “free drinks” found him. Poison detection was something he made sure to master. So down they went. He pretended to be tipsy then drunk.

His winnings were pilling up and he was starting to get worried. The butler hadn’t shown up. But what kind of shady joint was this when his winnings were sky high and nothing had happened to him.

Thaum wanted to go for round two with one of the girls to give them more opportunity to think about what a “fat sheep” he was. He pointed to a barmaid and said, “that one.” making sure to slur even those simple words.

The madam laughed before persuading him on another girl, “she just got here and is still tending the tables. I’m sure you want someone more experienced. How about number three. She is very flexible.”

Thaum just wanted to stir trouble at this point so he asked, “why not that one.”

The madam sighed, “because she just got here, even the boss hasn’t signed off on her yet. Pick someone else.”

Thaum asked how much, but was refused. Bored with the charade Thaum just pointed to a random woman and went upstairs with her.

When everything was done he pretended to fall asleep. The woman laid there with him for a few minutes. Then left after taking a gold pick from his pants pocket. ‘little thief you should be more greedy than that’ he thought.

Once he has alone he had some time to kill. So he started making some extra gold picks. Since making something out of nothing is nearly impossible. He grabbed a stray magazine and transmuted that. It took more concentration converting something so dissimilar to the end product, but he didn't mind.

Half an hour later with a dozen new gold picks he left the room. The atmosphere downstairs had changed. Thaum looked around before going back to his gambling table. The two women flirting with him earlier kept a distance. And Thaum noticed a man in a suit that wasn’t here before. He had a subtle ring of space around him. Like no one wanted to get close to him. People even avoided looking in that direction.

Thaum smirked. It was the boss. Thaum began gambling again. However, the dice seemed to be weighted this time. Loss, loss, win, loss, loss, loss, loss, win. The downward trend continued. Thaum got down to a third of his highest amount and said, “my luck is going bad now, all in”

The crowd stirred and Thaum focused on the dice. Win. The crowd cheered and Thaum continued, “maybe my luck is turning around all in again haha.” he was tired of waiting, and trying to scam him out of his winnings was enough for him. Even if he cheated to get them in the first place.

He won again. Then again. A new woman found her way under his arm and flat out asked if he was the new guy with the ship and if he knew some lord. He figured it would speed things up so he asked who that was in return.

The net was cast. The crowd went from dull to frenzied to subdued again. They weren’t stupid. Thaum long passed the stage of hovering his winnings around the boss looks like he is going to cry mark. Now he just looked pissed.

The boss managed a smile as he approached and said, “you lucky bastard. Since your luck is so good how about challenging the back room. The guys in there play for real money”

Thaum didn’t need convincing. The eyes of the spectators seemed to scream danger at the term back room. But Thaum ignored it and said, “sure.”

The boss started convincing him to go. His tone darkened. It was probably his threatening voice. But he only got two words into it before he realized that Thaum agreed. ‘good’ he thought as he escorted him there.

The back room was small. A round table with a few chairs with some cards. The men sitting in the chairs looked poor and rough. They were obviously the boss's guards posing as players. They could have at least put on some decent clothes if they were pretending to be part of a high-stakes game.

The boss closed the door. All pretense gone, “you cheated. Tell me how you did it and I’ll only break your legs. Then we can pretend you never came here.”

They had made him wait a while, but Thaum appreciated the directness. He smiled at the man and directly punched the man in the face. The boss crumpled to the floor. A minion pulled a gun. However, the room was small. Thaum was already touching the man's spine with a kick through the stomach.

The third and fourth pulled knives. They looked like they found the door a more attractive choice and ran for it. Thaum let them.

One grabbed the handle and pulled. Nothing happened. He put his body weight into it and it still didn’t budge. Thaum was magically holding the door closed.

Thaum grabbed the gun off the floor, “drop the knives”. They did. Thaum suddenly said, “catch” and threw the gun at one of the goons head. He flinched and Thaum moved in and knocked him out. The second dared to reach down for his knife. So Thaum grabbed his head and kneed him in the head until the man slumped to the floor.

Thaum wondered aloud, “now where are the ropes around here”. There were none.

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