By the time the duo reached the market square, it was already bustling with all sort of folk. Yuki held on to Leo for dear life, as though afraid she’d be lost in the crowd forever.

Leo for his part led her through a few corners and finally made it to an obscure spot near the docks. Judging from the sign, it seemed to be some sort of store too, albeit an abandoned one. Nevertheless, he ignored the front door and made it out back, where he briskly removed two planks covering a hole in the wall and made his way in.

A man lay inside dead drunk on the table, his mug still reeking of cheap alcohol. Leo didn’t leave Yuki behind and dragged her along to sit opposite the man before tapping the table twice with his punch.

“Old man, you’ve got customers!”

There was little respect to speak of out here in the streets, and Leo knew better than to feign civility with the old thief.

“Who!? Wha’!? Ah, it’s you, brat, why are you so fucking early…” the man groaned as if having an ax stuck in his skull. He ignored the duo and hobbled unsteadily to wash his face, before finally making his way back and dropping like a sack on the chair. “Well, bring it out, then.”

Leo briskly took a pouch out from a pocket he’d sewn in his inner shirt. He emptied the contents on the table before listing with a clear voice.

“A silver ring, the velvet-silk pouch itself, and 3 silver tari into local bronze currency, please.”

The man studied the ring closely against the mottled rays of sun piercing the wall before nodding subtly. He then examined the pouch itself, expertly assessing its worth. Finally. he gnawed his teeth on the silver coin, before spitting out in satisfaction.

“Hmm. 3 silver into 30 bronze. The pouch can add up to another 20. As for the ring, it’s well made so about 130.”

“What? The pouch is from Venetian silk. Any merchant will take it for at least 2 gold! Old man, you’re swindling me again!”

Despite Leonardo’s grumbles, the man didn’t seem annoyed in the least. Business as usual for them. Even if the runt was a quarter of his weight, he sure had a quick tongue.

“Fine, you foul brat. 150 for the pouch, but you’ll need to wait. I haven’t got that much bronze.”

“It’s fine. I’ll pick it up next week.”

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As can be surmised, the tari were the gold standard in the Sicilian kingdom. There were dozens of currencies changing hands in Malta alone, but for simplicity’s sake: 1 gold tari will have traded for 100 bronze or 10 silvers. A silver is 10 bronze respectively. Further on were the larger dinar, worth 10 gold or 1000 bronze. Lastly there were ingots worth about 10000 in low level currency. Without getting into too many details, the value of his ill-gotten gains this time came up to 310 tari.

In essence, currencies were total chaos at that time. Rather than account for each coin and their separate gold or silver percentage, low level folk called everything small and made of bronze a tari. Copper was worth less, and used mostly for decimal exchanges. Only silver and gold was scrutinized a little more closely for purity or counterfeits.

As for the reason Leonardo sought to trade his gold and silver into bronze, it’s merely a matter of staying low-key. After all, an orphan whipping out gold coins in the market was bound to raise a few eyebrows. As for the weight and density, he never accumulated enough of it to have to worry about space.

“Alright, we’re out. Don’t drink so much and have some water. Oh, and thanks, old man.”

Setting the planks back in place and leaving the man to groan away in misery, Leo led Yuki through the market corners and bought a few snacks, instantly wiping out a dozen tari from his purse.

As the girl cheerily stuffed herself with food, they came by a crowd near a market stall. Curious, he dragged Yuki along and waddled their way through the crowd, coming up to the front. Yuki covered her mouth with a startled yelp and clung to Leo.

A gruesome scene played out in front of them. A boy, no older than their age, was being pummeled with a wooden plank over his hands. His fingers were gnarled and broken, the flesh mangled while the bones were set the opposite way. A brawny bear of a man sat on top of him and continuously battered the kid against the ground. None of the bystanders seemed to find it abnormal.

“I’ll see how you can steal now, you bastard! Let’s see how you can stuff yourself without hands. Ptooy, scum.”

As the boy collapsed unconscious from one too many impacts to the ground, the man finally spat out and walked off along with the dispersing crowd. The child lay there like a rag, his fate’s trajectory unknown but bleak.

Leo sighed, “Another one caught.” Dragging Yuki closer, he whispered into her ear with great solemness.

“Yuki. You must keep my secret, lest we both end up like him. Promise to watch your words, okay?”

“I understand, brother Leo. I promise…” The timid girl looked somewhat absent-minded at the mangled boy, before finally squinting and looking away. She then clung on to Leo to ask, “Can you save him, big brother?”

‘Hmm,’ as his eyes flickered with a subtle emerald radiance, Leonardo examined the boy closely. Feeling his vibrant yet decaying life source, he couldn’t help but lament the frailty of humans. As he felt the tampered blood flow in the victim and the inevitable infection to come, he finally drew close and lay two fingers against his back.

His mastery of Vita was too weak, as was his magic. As a Virtus 1 mage he could at most examine his condition and know what is wrong. To actually cure him, he’d need to rely on medicine and modern skills, which were frankly incomplete and imperfect.

“I can’t. Not yet. I’m sorry, Yuki.”

The boy lamented fate with a sigh.

“So you will be able to later?” Her eyes shone with expectation, prompting Leo to do a double take.