He mostly smells the perfume. An undercurrent of something inhuman, which might be part of the perfume, and the scent is not offensive in general so he doesn't hesitate.

"When you forcibly combine individuals from different societies with different standards, expect some to take subordinate roles and give advantages to others, and mix carnivorous races that feed off sentient beings into the fray then it would be laughable to assume that such a place wouldn't be dangerous. Such a pretense would be useless."

There probably weren't good ways of covering up what was in the fog, either.