"Please." Adult Hadrian pleaded with the cohort's leader.
"Anyone can have hungry children." The bearded man said as his eyes went to teenage boy Hadrian and baby Alia that he carried.
"Look at you. No weapon. No armor. We don't need good for nothing burdens."
"I can buy those, and I have three dogs with me."
The bearded man's left brow rose. "Sword and armor over food? You are a smart one aren't you."
"The money might buy me food once or twice, but I'll achieve more with a weapon and hunt."
The bearded man leaned back into his wooden chair. It creaked under his weight. The early morning sun was warm on top of their heads.
"The rest of the party should be here by noon." He tapped his wooden desk with a finger. "If you can be back by then with a sword and armor. Why not?"
Adult Hadrian nodded, his lips pressing tightly and he turned to leave.
"Don't forget one for your boy." The bearded man shouted, "He's old enough to fight."
The Hadrian's walked away from the open space, passing through carts, horses and other men and women preparing for a hunt.
He headed north.
Though the bank was not yet likely to notice the robbery, he preferred to find one in the districts more central to the city.
Even the air was different. Most, if not all the buildings, were made of concrete in the upper districts.
"You there, and your filthy dogs." A deep voice stopped him and he turned to see a man mounted on a horse dressed in the green and silver, the color, of Gritjor.
"There's no business for you here."
"I simply wish to make use of a bank, good sir."
"A bank?" The mounted man's eyes studied his whole body. "You don't smell like you'd know what a bank is."
"Apologies for my state. This is not how I usually am." Adult Hadrian said with a smile. "If you would point me to one, I would be - "
"Go back to whatever outer district you came from. The people here pay to not be disturbed by your kind." The man cut in, his voice deep and demanding enough to send a shudder though Hadrian's bodies.
Hadrian's smile died and his eyes constricted. He altered his sight to the horse's essence sea and called at its fog tendrils.
The horse snorted and its eyes widened enough to show their whites as its nostrils flared.
With loud stomps on the bricked pavement, the horse chaotically galloped away in the streets hitting some carts and even people right off their feet.
The man mounted on top tried his best to control it by the reins but failed miserably.
In a matter of seconds, they'd disappeared from Hadrian's sight. So did the horse's fog tendrils.
With a sigh, Hadrian turned to look for a bank. Using his rat and hawk vessels, he finally found one after nearly twenty minutes of searching in this district.
The buildings were straight and tall, still built close to each other, but they had pristine designs.
The bank was one such building, it looked to be four stories, white pristine concrete walls with red rooftop.
Stripped pillars stood by its opening. Hadrian felt ten times filthier just by gazing upon the building.
Walking up with only Adult Hadrian, he left his other vessels behind.
He was stopped some steps away from the bank gate.
"What do you want?" The guard had on white gloves, stopping Hadrian by pressing his hand against Hadrian's chest.
Adult Hadrian reached into his pocket and took out a silver coin.
"Pay for honest work from a noble. I wish to exchange it for some bronze and copper coins."
"What kind of work would a noble pay in a silver coin?" The guards' brows pinched and it sounded like he was asking himself more than he was Hadrian.
"Ah, you never know with rich folk. Sometimes, just by being humble, you can get a treat from them."
The guard swallowed and his eyes darted from the silver coin to Hadrian's face, he lifted his hand off of Hadrian's chest and let him through.
I suppose banks don't care as long as you bring in money?
Inside was even more pristine than outside. The marble floors and walls reflected everything. There were vases lined in the walkway with some decorative plants inside them.
The atmosphere was calm and quiet. Looking down at his eaten away boots, Hadrian realized how dirty he really looked.
He walked up to the reception. A small woman with a big forehead and hair held in a tight bun looked up at him. Her eyes constricted but she did not say anything.
Hadrian swallowed and got right to the point. "I wish to exchange this for some bronze and copper coins." He held the silver coin high.
The woman's arms crossed on the desk in front of her. "Do you have an account with this bank?"
Hadrian scratched his head. "No. No I don't." His words shrunk.
"Then you will be charged ten percent extra on top of the ten percent exchange fee."
Huh? Aren't they robbing me?
Hadrian's lips pressed tightly as his eyes darted in thought.
"That's fine." He finally said.
Eighty percent worth of a silver coin is still enough.
He didn't intend to bring out the other silver coin or the two gold coins.
That would raise a lot of attention he didn't think he would easily escape by just saying he got paid.
The process was slow, but after quarter of an hour, he walked out of the bank with two coin bags.
One with seventy bronze coins and the other with nine hundred and sixty copper coins. They'd charged him for the coin bags too.
I really am rich.
Of course that was only relatively. Back in Calos, he would be too rich to even live there, but as he moved to the inner central districts, he would get poorer.
It's still about two hours to noon.
Hadrian thought as he looked up at the sun.
Why not?
First thing he did was he moved to a cheaper district, still in the middle class, and bought some clothes and armor for himself and his other vessels.
He even bought clothes that would fit baby Alia if he needed to grow her back to her teenage self.
He'd gotten strange looks for that but didn't mind them.
He bought the items from different stores.
After that, he found a good inn and took a refreshing warm bath. All of his human vessels did. Even his three dogs got washed.
Ah, money is truly happiness.
He also got a haircut and clean shave for his adult self.
Fresh and in new clothes and armor, he finally headed back to the cohort's meeting place.
In the end, he was left with seventy bronze coins and twenty copper coins.
Those upper districts might be expensive, but they are worth it.
The armor and weapons cost the most.
Teenage boy Hadrian was dressed in black armor and had gotten two daggers as his weapons.
His thick boots were of the same color.
Hadrian looked at himself through adult Hadrian's eyes.
His new face had a slight feminine beauty to it. Especially his eyes, he'd never seen eyes so pretty before, but his jaw and cheeks gave away that he was a boy.
For adult Hadrian, for some reason, he did not feel the need to go all the way out and dressed him in sand coloured armor and medium boots.
He got a sword for him though.
Now that I think about it. I have no idea how to use a sword. knowing how one is used is easy, how to properly fight with one, however….
He'd tried swinging the sword and it was surprisingly heavier than he'd imagined.
How do knights fight with this?
That's why he'd gotten teenage boy Hadrian two short daggers.
Of course he could concentrate all his other vessels' strength on adult Hadrian, but that would make his other vessels useless, even immobile to some extent.
"You weren't lying?" The bearded man said as he put on his armor.
Horses snorted and bellowed all around them.
"Who's this?" One of the bearded man's companions asked, eyeing Hadrian up and down.
"An idiot that cleans up nice." Said the bearded man with a laugh.
"Fine then. You want a spot in our cohort? You must pay a fee."
"How much?" Adult Hadrian asked.
"Considering we will be travelling with the three of you…. I'd say 500 copper coins will be fine." The man said as he tightened his sheath, "I've included any sort of protection involved. If you think you'll find a cheaper price, good luck."
"Five bronze coins, then?" Hadrian asked, his voice low.
"You have bronze coins?" The man's eyes widened and he looked to his companions.
"Sure. That'll do." He turned to Hadrian, "but you understand there is an exchange fee for that? To make sure everyone gets paid properly you'll need to add one percent for each coin."
"Are we leaving soon?" Hadrian asked, showing he agreed.
"Do you have a horse?" The man smiled, "if not, and you want a ride on the carriage, well…. That'll also cost ya."
"I'll find one." Hadrian said and the man's smile twitched.
"Half an hour." Said the man, "then we leave."
After buying a horse, Hadrian found a secluded spot, tied the horse down and watched it struggle as he turned it into his vessel.
Its snorts and screams almost made Hadrian want to stop.
I've killed a human, will I pretend to care for a creature's life?
He frowned at the struggling brown horse.
Mounting his horse vessel, he made his way back to the procession that was leaving, headed for the city walls as they followed the Baron's road.
There were four separate cohorts in the procession. His was made up of twelve members, not including him or teenage boy Hadrian.
Hawk Hadrian had already flown and perched ahead of the procession. Dog Hadrian's were close by while rat Hadrian's scurried some distance away.