Bargain rather than Taxes

The moment had arrived, it was time to leave and investigate the intricates that lay upon this city.

But first, there was a problem to solve, attention.

...

A naked Valentine presented himself in front of the Demon behind the counter.

"..."

"..."

Awkwardness.

"I don't swing that way, disgusting pig... if you want that service, by all means, go three stores down the road! and better if you don't come back!" The demon yelled with disgust, pointing at the exit.

"Shut up! I came because I want three new bathrobes, we broke the other three..." Valentine clenched his fist, restraining himself from giving this demon a new makeup.

"Hmph! Do you think I'm stupid? it's not easy to break those bathrobes... if you want three of them, you will have to buy them! a hundred coins for a set of three." The demon presented his purple hand with long black nails, awaiting the coins.

"..."

This world is so disgraceful, that valentine was already expecting to get scammed... he opened his palm that had some coins in it.

"Fifteen each?"

He dared to bargain!

"Eighty... I can't lower it down more than that, stop wasting my time, I have a lot of customers." The demon growled in disdain, desperately hoping a customer would come just so he doesn't have to speak with this bastard, preferably a wealthy demoness of the lust circle if possible.

'What I would give to have one night with you, Duchess Lilith...'

That's the dream of all demons, a dream that he's fated to not accomplish as the host of some rundown inn

...

The only thing Valentine did was to give a round gaze to the clearly empty luxurious hallway, there isn't even a fucking cactus here.

"Yes, sure... douchebag..."

He paid the money and got the bathrobes, not wanting to waste a single drop of saliva with this cunt, immediately wearing one and taking the other two.

...

Vera and Fayette wore the first layer of bathrobes and placed their knives on the compartment, then took another one and placed it on top.

At least now they didn't look as voluptuous, but their faces were still that of fairies... nothing could be done there...

He was about to lead them to leave when Fayette held her hips in place and pouted.

"What's wrong?"

"Why aren't you wearing two of them too!?"

"Huh? I'm a man... no one is going to pay attention..."

"Yes?! And what about that demoness from before!? Wear two of them, Vale, no, three!" Vera interjected and threw him the first bathrobe that he had.

The man had to reluctantly wear it, not liking it much since it decreased his mobility.

After taking all the money they had and a couple of cores, they departed the hotel.

**

**

The trio found themselves in the middle of the road where there were hundreds of demons.

Aside from a few glances here and there, no one regarded them, but Fayette could feel it, they're definitely being stared at, but with... fear?

"I think it works... for some reason, let's not waste time, I'm hungry!" She pulled both Valentine and Vera as they started to make their way down.

"Where should we go? the same place from before?" Vera inquired, the only place they 'knew' is the place where the vagrant took them before.

"No, let's try and see if there is anything else, this city is massive, there must be something better." He concluded, his only interest is to reach a store where they can get weapons.

As they walked and giggled down the road, many gazes set on them, with different reactions.

Valentine knew they were likely attracting reaction, but there is nothing that can be done.

Why are they?

Simple...

There are hundreds of demons here, thousands even... only on this section of the road, walking in a way that depicted this more as a tourist city than an actual metropolis.

In here, there are 95% demons and 5% humans... and without a single doubt, all of them are going through precarious needs.

They're either slaves, vagrants that steal from stores and are eventually 'caught' or travellers that look like they come from far away as their armours and clothes are simply depleted, rusted and pitiful.

You could even say they're the only humans in here that have a clean face...

Basically, just by being normal, they're already attracting a lot of attention, but what could he do? force the girls to get themselves dirty again? he didn't want to do that.

Before, in the forest... they were forced to, but here... the three of them would work tooth and nail, assassinate if needed, to live a proper life, and else... then might as well just get their crystals destroyed.

He'd rather kill Fayette and Vera than see them being some demon's pets.

And without a doubt, Vera and Fayette think the same.

...

As they moved through the streets, they saw several kinds of chops, the city resembled either Paris or London of his times, shops everywhere, people everywhere, in this case, demons... he came to understand that this place is really for demons to live.

Humans weren't the only ones that stole. Demons did too... but unsurprisingly, when a human stole he was easier to capture and immediately taken who knows where.

There were nightclubs, whorehouses... restaurants, even stylists for demonesses, it's ridiculous... everything costs amethyst coins, even the most basic of commodities...

Whenever they saw a Demon Soldier, the three of them would try to look small and apparently aside from some glances, the demon soldiers didn't try to look trouble with them.

...

"There are no 'decent' human restaurants in here Vale, let's just go to the shop from before..." Fayette pulled his arm, by now he had Vera hook to his left with a gaze full of either disgust or curiosity, depending on the shop they had in the front, while Fayette was getting increasingly hungrier.

The restaurants they found... 70% of them sold human flesh... 20% of them sold the flesh of other animals that looked gruesome, and the last part sold the flesh of animals that didn't look gruesome, but they were mutated... mutated wolf, mutated this and that...

Eventually, they realised they weren't going to find 'pasta a la bolognese' or 'oven cooked steak' anywhere here.

**

**

They passed through the shop, on the way here they heard some moans coming from a corner.

!!!

The alleyway that's right beside the shop where they had been.

It's obvious what the meaning of those moans is, the problem is, there are grunts too, but those grunts don't sound like 'pleasurable' grunts...

"Ignore it..." Fayette exclaimed and took the two of them inside the shop.

There, the girl that attended them before was nowhere to be seen, they were attended by some other pretty red skinned demoness, the colours made the trio wonder what exactly does it mean for a demon to have green, blue, red skins... but there were so many and so many varieties, that they didn't hold the thought further.

Eventually, they all asked for the same pastry, a 'mutated wolf' pastry that was made with some kind of weird flour that they didn't bother asking what it is... none of the three knows how to cook nor do they pretend to cook.

"We have to stay away from the alleyways." Vera chewed on hers and took a sip from her juice.

'Mongre Juice'... whatever the heck that is.

They asked the demoness that attended them what she recommended and the bitch obviously recommended the most expensive drink in the menu, yes... this time they weren't fooled and asked for the menu.

They thought they were smart, but no... they were swindled once again, the menu doesn't have prices included, just names and pictures.

'Fuck this shit...' the three thought almost in unison.

No wonder there aren't any 'clean' humans here... if you're going to be swindled whatever small penny you got at every corner... in whatever shop you go to.

This is a measly restaurant and if you lower your guard, they stick it up your arse.

...

"Yes, I heard the wails coming out of there... and the moans... this is a truly peculiar city. It's as if the darkness starts through the alleyways and the rest is just a facade." Fayette said and ate her pastry, but she did so in a way that made her companions deadpan.

"..." (Valentine, Vera)

"What? why are you looking at me like that?" She lifted up her eyebrows and stopped her hand.

"Why the hell are you eating a pastry with folks and knife?" Vera held back from laughing out loud as she shamelessly held the pastry with her bare hands.

Meanwhile, Valentine snickered and copied her actions, it had been so long since he 'ate' the same way Fayette did.

"Hmph! I'm not an animal like you two! I'm a noble commander from the French army!"

"Yeah yeah... you weren't so noble last night." Those were Valentine's last words before he got a mutated wolf pastry straight to his face.

!!!

"Y-YOU! SAY THAT AGAIN! I'M GOING TO SLAUGHTER YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY!"

The tyrant Fayette Blanchet came back to life.

"What are you? a young master?~" He cleaned his face and directly started to eat Fayette's pastry, she sneakily tried to steal his but he refused.

"You threw yours, so, no food for you..."

*PFT!* Vera couldn't hold herself back, she already imagined they did 'that' anyway if just by how they have behaved today, they looked more like a married couple now than they did before.