“Oh boy,” Preston thought as the unexpected question caught him off-guard. He slowly combed his gloved fingers through his hair a couple times before scratching his scalp. [I] “How do you explain a whole race of people?”

“Well,” he said, opening his mouth to respond, but he stopped with the shake of his head. He pondered the phrasing, especially regarding a tiefling. It was a group of people he had little interaction with, but the rumor was that a demon and a ‘core race’ made to create a half-demon. The darker rumor he had heard was about pacts with Haidian demonic lords. “You see,” he continued.

“How ‘bouts ya spit it out,” the kid said with a slight grin and a look at his goblin friends. It seemed he had grown a bit of confidence.

“Alright then,” Preston shrugged. He lowered his hand from his head and pointed it at the boy’s hair, specifically at the small horns protruding from beneath the mop. “You have horns, which by itself isn’t a giveaway since there are other... species that have horns like a satyr and fauns. You also have a red skin-tone, and I can see the sharp canine teeth when you smile too. And I bet,” he said confidently as the boy’s confidence began to wane slightly, “I bet if I was to guess, you have a tail that has a mind of its own too, huh?”

“What do you know!” The boy rushed quickly back into the crowd. As he passed by, he pulled his hood much higher up on his head and his face pulled deeper into the recesses. The goblin, with a half-skip to catch up, rushed by Preston as well, but not without another haphazard swing of a boot at his other shin.

“Oh, come on kid,” Preston pleaded as he dodged the goblins attempt. It was as much in frustration at the green brat as it was at his own frustrations having upset the young tiefling. The merchant cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice as he called into the crowd towards where the young boys disappeared. “I didn’t mean anything by what I said, I was just trying to explain what a tiefling is!”