"Whoops, excuse me. ."
Felix offered a disarming smile after accidentally bumping into a short demon wearing a messy trench coat. The demon gasped as the impact knocked him off balance, his eyes wide with panic until Felix grabbed his elbow and kept him upright.
The moment he caught his breath, the demon glared at Felix's shabby clothes and immediately shoved his hands into his pockets. He patted down his coat, checking for missing goods, and only relaxed when he felt everything was still in place.
"Watch it, damn it," the demon snapped, glaring up at him. "I have enough stress today. Sinners are their own special headache."
Felix just grinned and raised his hands in a placid surrender. "My bad. Guess pickpockets are a big problem around here?"
Without a word of reply, the demon shot him one last bitter look, shook his head, and hurried off. He pushed the whole encounter out of his mind, completely missing the curious look flashing in Felix's eyes.
Brief as the encounter was, it succeeded in putting a few of Felix's lingering anxieties to rest.
Amongst them was a simple question: Is pickpocketing really that common around here? The demon's immediate reaction being to check for missing valuables gave Felix all the confirmation he needed.
People in this world were deeply paranoid about getting robbed. Considering the poor state of this part of the city, it was reasonable to assume many had turned to theft just to get by.
After all, the demon only assumed he could have been pickpocketed after glancing at Felix's attire. While Felix's overall appearance might suggest wealth, his actual clothes were hardly enough to sell the part.
He glanced down at his hands, rolling his wrists as he watched the trench coat disappear around a corner. The lingering numbness from his transformation was still there, buzzing just beneath his skin, but his grip had been steady.
He had caught the short demon's elbow without a single hitch or clumsy wobble. It was a relief to know the gacha hadn't completely botched his motor skills.
Even better, the guy hadn't flinched when touched. To a total stranger, Felix's skin felt completely normal, and the glowing red scars were just ordinary marks. He could still blend in.
Then there was the guy's parting complaint: 'sinners are their own special headache.'
Felix let the phrase settle in his mind, turning it over as he started walking again.
The demon hadn't used the word as a general insult, rather as a category. If they were a specific group distinct enough to be singled out for causing trouble, it meant the population down here was divided by more than just wealth.
Also, he couldn't help but notice the demon had a striking resemblance to. .
'That's it!'
It was embarrassing for him to finally realize it now, but he had at last begun to make sense of the implications hovering over his head.
He remembered that one of the first demons he had encountered, the shopkeeper, had called itself an imp. He had not thought much of it at the time, but now, he felt he was on the verge of a realization.
The demon clad in the trench coat was roughly the same height as the imp, perhaps only slightly taller.
They possessed similar characteristics reminiscent of a goblin, but the most distinct features were the eyes and horns, which were closely identical.
He hadn't come across many demons with horns. Plus, they often had strange proportions and features. He wondered if they were all sinners.
As a shopkeeper, his entire livelihood more than likely depended on daily transactions and community interactions. Given the nature of the neighborhood, there was little doubt about that.
Unlike the stressed demons rushing through life, a resale shop owner was a stationary target. They were always ready to talk, especially if there was money to be made.
* * *
When he entered the second hand store, Felix looked around for the imp. Strangely, he was nowhere to be found.
"Hello? Anyone home?"
Due to the low income, it was unsurprising that the store was so small it could almost be considered claustrophobic to some.
The architecture itself possessed no remarkable features to speak of, save for a single wooden door situated directly behind the main counter. It more than likely led to a cramped backroom meant for storing whatever sparse inventory the owner could afford to keep on hand.
"Hello? Anyone home?"
As he called out, he couldn't help but move around to look at the low shelves carrying miscellaneous objects.
Felix noted that many of them were essentially unique for all the wrong reasons. Everything looked cheap, a mismatched mess of items that had no business being grouped together.
A silver necklace sat right next to a pair of sunglasses and a bottle of what smelled like cologne. Often, legitimate businesses bought things in bulk, having rows of matching inventory. This place had exactly one of everything.
There was nothing legitimate about the imp's business, but given that this was Hell, it felt entirely appropriate. The thought brought a faint comfort to his chest.
After a good half-hour of looking over what was available, the door behind the counter slowly opened.
A head belonging to the old imp poked out. Not long after, he noticed Felix and fully came out.
"Well, look what dragged itself in. Let me guess, you want something?"
Felix kept his expression relaxed, letting his eyes drift from the imp's face down to his posture. The old demon was trying hard to look completely unimpressed, keeping a sour frown fixed on his face.
It was a good front. A sloppy seller would have looked bored or greedy, but this imp was deliberately keeping his guard up. His shoulders were tense, and his eyes stayed locked on Felix's hands.
The demon was incredibly cautious, likely having spent decades in this business.
Trying to play dumb or act tough wasn't going to work here. If Felix tried to slip a half-assed lie past him, the old guy would spot it instantly and do something unpleasant.
Instead of pushing against the wall, Felix decided to use it.
"Just looking around," Felix said, his tone perfectly easygoing. He leaned back against the edge of a shelf, keeping his hands out where they could be seen.
"You've got a lot of interesting stuff here. Hard to find a shop that keeps its inventory this diverse without drawing the wrong kind of attention."
The imp's eyes narrowed slightly, but the tension in his jaw didn't break. "If you're just here to window-shop and waste my breath, take your ass outside."
Turning his head away, Felix let it be known he was entirely unbothered, even offering a wave as he brushed the words aside.
"Jeez. I'm just trying to appreciate a professional who knows how to run a clean operation in a messy place."
He looked back, allowing the old demon to see his confusion.
"Actually, I had a question about the locals around here. I ran into someone down the road and they complained about sinners. Care for insight? Of course, I'll pay if need be."
The imp stared at him for a long, quiet moment, clearly weighing whether Felix was a threat or just an annoying customer who knew enough to keep his mouth shut.
'Was that too much?'
It was true that Felix hadn't tried to come off as too scheming, he felt it was better to validate the demon's caution while keeping the conversation entirely on his own terms.
The imp snorted, creating an ugly sound. He looked Felix up and down, his eyes lingering on the frayed, dirt-stained edges of his clothes.
"Bullshit. What exactly are you paying with? Cause I don't swing that way."
Felix stared at him flatly. Inhaling deeply, he muttered, "I didn't need to know that."
Keeping his hands low and partially obscured by the edge of the counter, Felix slipped his right fingers against the glowing red crack on his left wrist. With a tiny, silent friction, the seam parted lightly.
Before the imp knew it, Felix brought his hand up and slammed quite a few things onto the table. Empty wallets, packs of cigarettes, vapes, etc.
"To be fair, I didn't say with money. And I think anything you can sell is great for just basic information."
To say the old imp wasn't growling at this point would otherwise be untrue. As much as he tried to hide it, being so close, Felix had no trouble hearing it.
'Great customer service. Ten out of ten.'