"See, just like I told you. The magic circle released purified water and fire mana through the atmosphere in the form of lightning which changed the climate to that of a late Spring." Rin said to Ferdinand after the heavy storm finally stopped and they all walked outside to find that all of the snow had melted and the air was as warm as it would be in early Summer.

Nobles and commoners alike stood around in the streets, staring at the world around them in disbelief, unable to process that the snow that should have stayed for another two months at least was gone in an instant, and a true Spring had come.

Once what had happened sank in, and knights came back to report that ALL of the province had been affected by the magic circle, they started to cheer and celebrate, some with tears in their eyes.

Rin didn't have the heart to tell them how massively disappointed she was when she completed the ritual. A grand mystery making use of the power flowing through the Leyline and costing her multiple days worth of her mana to activate, and all it was was a glorified space heater. Nothing with a complex spell structure or that would reveal any sort of useful runic patterns or greater truth about the world. No insight to be gained.

What a let down. It's as if the Summon Servant system bugged and started to summon a giant pile of day old bread instead of a legendary hero.

She wanted her Feystones back!

"You should have reported this to us before doing anything." Ferdinand said coldly, seemingly unaware that the stages were magic tools.

"I DID tell you that there was something weird about those staged, but every time I tried to look closely at them, you never let me." Rin snapped back. "Why are you even angry? This is a good thing, isn't it?"

Of course, she hadn't KNOWN what was going to happen until the moment the magic circle appeared, but she wasn't about to tell him that. She supposed that it could have theoretically caused her to gain control over the province's foundation or caused all the nearby buildings to turn to dust. But if the magic circle HAD been anything bad, she could have terminated it, since it was given form by her own mana. So there wasn't any real danger. Honestly, there wasn't.

And she had been SO curious! You can't just dangle something like that in front of her for a week straight without her snapping!

Ferdinand wanted to argue the point but couldn't, as people were gathering around them, recognizing Rin as having been the source of the magic circle that did this. Rin was puzzled as they all bowed down before her, head's pressed to the muddy ground, as if worshiping an idol.

"Why are they bowing?" Rin asked, completely confused.

Sure, she could understand commoners with no understanding of magecraft seeing this as some kind of god given miracle, but any Noble should know that it is merely the result of a normal mystery.

"Of course they are bowing to you. It is a show of their gratitude to the one who has brought Spring to this land." Sylvester said loudly, making a show of walking up to Rin before everyone. "I had heard the rumors of you before. A young girl, last of her Archnoble line, with an extraordinary amount of mana, whose intelligence was bringing about a cultural revolution in the lower city. I had also heard about the kindness you showed in taking on and protecting the orphans who were suffering despite your own tender age. To be honest, I hadn't fully believed it until I met you. But now, I can see why my brother is so fond of you."

…Brother? Who was his brother?

Rin looked at Sylvester's face, wondering if she had seen anyone who looked like him before. It was annoying that hair and eye colors varied so widely even within family's, making it hard to be sure who exactly was this brother he was talking about. …His jawline kind of looked like the Fake Priest's.

But that couldn't be right. She and Ferdinand hated each other. And if he was the brother of the Archduke, then those suck ups in the Temple would all be trying to kiss his ass.

It was while she was pondering this that Sylvester dropped the bomb on her, right in front of all of those people.

"Tohsaka, I would like to take you as my daughter."

…Huh?

"We are behind closed doors, so don't bother with your fake childish act. Just speak as you would normally." Ferdinand insisted as he, Rin and Sylvester, as well as one of Sylvester's guards, Karstedt, all gathered in a room to discuss what had just happened.

"Very well." Rin said with a nod. "I'm grateful for your offer Lord Sylvester, but I have to admit, I need some time to think about the implications of becoming your daughter."

"Really, I thought you wished to be adopted by the highest rank noble possible in order to secure a connection to the nobility for your merchant friends." Sylvester said.

"Not in the slightest." Rin said with a shake of her head, confusing the nobles. "The Gilberta Company isn't having any difficulties with finding a market for its products, so we don't really need a noble connection to increase demand at the moment, and the normal propagation of our goods is enough to create the demand we need for the rate at which we are scaling our supply. A noble connection for them would be appreciated, but not necessary. Actually, the kind of demand that would be caused by an important Archnoble backer would probably be too much for us. I wished to be adopted, but for my own reasons. Not because of Benno and his Gilberta Company."

"I see… and those reasons are?" Sylvester said, crossing his arms and showing a mild interest.

"I want to be able to buy research materials for my magic tool research." Rin replied in all seriousness, causing Sylvester and Karstedt to look at her with genuine surprise. "I have money from my work with the Gilberta Company, but without the right noble connections, I can't buy any of the materials I need to properly research magecraft. My plan was to be adopted and exchange my magic power and money for a laboratory and research materials. These are things that being adopted by you can provide, but being the daughter of an Archduke comes with too many social obligations for my liking. I want to just be left alone to do my work without having to worry about that."

"I see. You really are just like Hirschur." Sylvester chuckled. "Well, it's too late now. I already took the chance with the commotion you made to publicly declare that I was adopting you. And to be clear, even if you are iffy on the idea, I am quite serious. The simple fact is, you're too valuable to be allowed to be adopted by just any Archnoble family. If we want to make full use of you, you need to become my daughter. I'm not going to take no for an answer."

"Of course." Rin said, annoyed that she wasn't being given a choice.

She could run to another Duchy if she wanted, but that would mean starting over from virtually nothing. And so long as she was in Ehrenfest, going against the Archduke's wishes was as hard as going against the wishes of the King.

"But I don't see how you are going to make proper use of me if I can't even visit my connections in the lower city because of my sudden status shift. You can't exactly invite merchants to the castle as a weekly routine." Rin pointed out.

"That's fine. After I adopt you, I will order you to continue to assist Ferdinand at the Temple until you come of age. You can meet with your lower city connections there and you won't have to worry about being constantly invited to tea parties either once you are baptized." Sylvester said.

"That's illegal." Rin said flatly.

There were laws against forcing a child of the nobility to leave the noble district or home province to do work before they finished at the Royal Academy.

"That is the best part about being the Archduke. I don't have to care." Sylvester said with a cheerful grin.

"...I went fishing for tuna and hooked a shark." Rin said miserably, realizing that all her showing off in an attempt to get a powerful backer had backfired on her. "Well, I suppose I don't have a choice now. I'll just have to put up with it until I come of age. Ten years… isn't so bad."

"That's the spirit." Sylvester said before standing up. "Come on. I need to bring you home to introduce you to your new mother and siblings. Try to get along with them."

After their conversation, the party packed up and started to fly back to the city of Ehrenfest, and to Ehrenfest castle. The trip was much like before, only with the addition of a dozen Knights and the Archduke, and this time, rather than being on Ferdinand's lion Highbeast, Rin was with Sylvester on his three-headed lion Highbeast.

"Why did you make your Highbeast look like this? Isn't it a waste of mana?" Rin asked as they flew through the air.

"The three-headed lion is the symbol of our family, and it is the Archduke's job to show off." Sylvester stated with a grin. "Don't worry though. Only the Aub of Ehrenfest is permitted to use the three-headed lion, so you won't have to. You can make your Highbeast whatever shape you'd like."

"Ah, that's good." Rin said, glancing around at the various shaped Highbeasts of the knights, all of them modeled off of animals with wings. …One of the Knights appeared to be riding on the back of a giant wing bunny. …Just why? "When do I get to make one?"

"Once you go to the Royal Academy." Sylvester told her.

Yeah, no. She was not waiting that long.

Granted, she wasn't planning on traveling enough to need one, so it would kind of be a waste of a high quality Feystone, but with her money and the Archducal family connections, that wasn't going to be a problem for long.

That is, unless Sylvester wants to publicly admit that his adopted daughter ran away from home. Not something that would be easily explained away in noble society. He was already probably going to be given dirty looks for routinely sending her to the Temple to offer up mana and do business with commoners.

This probably reflected reality more than the fairytale of the young girl who was the last of her bloodline being found and adopted by the Archduke and living happily ever after as a loving family.

Sylvester didn't even know her. All he cared about was the benefits that she could bring to his Duchy.

On the bright side, she'd never had to kneel and give one of those god awful greeting speeches ever again after today. As the adopted daughter of the Archduke, she'd outrank everyone, safe for Sylvester's wife, and perhaps any uncles and siblings he might have.

…Shit.

She couldn't believe that the Fake Priest was Sylvester's brother, now her uncle. It made her feel dirty. Well, that, and she hadn't had a chance to bathe these last few days.

It seemed that Sylvester was in agreement about this, as the moment they reached the castle he sent an ordonnanz. "Rihyarda, please come and meet us at the family entrance. I have a new charge for you that I want you to clean up." He told the small white bird before sending it off to deliver the message.

"You're handing her over to Rihyarda?" Ferdinand said, a slight grimace at her name.

"Who is that? A former lover of yours?" Rin teased, since all of the other knights had gone away, back to their normal duties.

"No. His former wet nurse." Sylvester said with a grin. "Rihyarda has helped raise some of the worst behaved children this Duchy has ever seen into passable adults. And now she is going to do the same thing with you."

"I'm afraid I have no idea what father means by that. When have I ever been anything but the perfect picture and a sophisticated young lady?" Rin said, wondering what kind of woman this Rihyarda person was. A woman who could provoke fear in the Fake Priest.

"...I don't know which of the two of them I'm more worried about, or if I would be worried if they might end up getting along." Ferdinand said after a short pause.

They weren't made to wait long, as an elderly woman wearing a bright smile came from the castle to meet them. "If it isn't young master Ferdinand. It has been such a long time. Have you been eating well?"

"Stop calling me that." Ferdinand said, his eyebrow twitching as the kindly grandmother-like woman poked at his buttons, getting a smile out of Rin.

"Rihyarda, this is Tohsaka, my newly adopted daughter. Please get her cleaned up and changed so that I can introduce her to the rest of the family." Sylvester said, pushing Rin forward slightly.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Rihyarda." Rin said with a pleasant smile.

"Well aren't you a dear. But we need to hurry if we are going to get you cleaned up in time for dinner." Rihyarda said before lifting Rin up in surprisingly strong arms and then moving at a pace that one would think impossible of a woman her age, rushing into the castle and through the halls as if the hounds were on her heels, all the while keeping the dignified posture of a noble attendant.

Sylvester and Ferdinand watched them go before Ferdinand turned to leave. "I'm getting out of here before anything explodes. She's your problem now."

"You know I'm sending her back to the Temple, right?"

"You'd have to be able to find her a guard knight to do that. I've got time."