It was on one such peaceful day.
"Help me, Elius!"
"...Hm?"
It was early morning, not long after sunrise. Rin came rushing to Elius while he was engaged in a light spar with Artoria before breakfast, and seized his arm with both hands.
Seeing the desperation plain upon her face, Elius frowned and asked, wishing first to understand the matter.
"What has happened, Rin?"
"I... have none."
"...Pardon?"
"I have no money!"
At Artoria's question, Rin collapsed into utter dejection and explained the whole affair. Because she practiced jewel magecraft, her expenses were ruinous, yet she had scarcely any fortune left to sustain them.
The wealth her house had once possessed had been entrusted to that madman, Kirei, and squandered away. What little remained came only from the magecraft patents her forebears had built up over generations.
Yet even that income was consumed in procuring magical materials. Thus Rin, despite bearing the title of Fuyuki City's owner, was in truth little better than a pauper.
Driven to the brink by this misery, she had racked her mind for a solution. Then she remembered the status she had once seen upon Elius, one that bore the blessing of [Golden Rule]. And so she had come to him at once.
"So I thought... perhaps Eli, whom one might call the father of modern administration, would know some way..."
"Dear me..."
"That is indeed a pitiable plight..."
Having heard her tale, Elius and Artoria looked upon Rin with genuine sympathy.
For Elius, who had overseen administration at the Round Table, and for Artoria, who had rendered its final judgments, this was no distant concern. It struck far too near the bone.
"Hm..."
"...Let us help her, Elius. Rin has shown us kindness before. This time, it is our turn to repay that debt."
As Elius pondered, Artoria, who had likewise fallen into thought, spoke thus.
At her words, Elius at last nodded. Through her title as Fuyuki City's owner and the connections that came with it, Rin had arranged proper identities for both him and Artoria after their incarnation.
"...Yes. Artoria is right. Then after luncheon, I shall come to the Tohsaka house."
"Good!"
Seeing Rin's face brighten at once, Elius smiled. He had thought it a simple enough matter. He would review the ledgers, offer a few useful counsels, and that would be the end of it.
Thinking no more of it, he and Artoria set the training ground in order.
"......"
And then, after the meal, Elius visited the Tohsaka residence, examined the records of her assets, and found himself struck speechless by a state of ruin beyond all imagining.
"How in the world must one manage one's estate to produce... no, to produce this?"
"Wait a moment, were you just about to say something else—"
"Let us not dwell upon trifles."
"No, but—"
Sharp inhale.
"...Yes, sir."
Rin had been about to protest, but the dreadful force pouring from Elius made her snap her mouth shut.
At the sight of Elius wearing an expression like a wrathful demon, Rin all but dropped to her knees before him.
Elius tapped the ledger with his fingers and spoke.
"Most of this is in the red. Worse still, there are expenditures whose sources are not clearly recorded, which suggests there were purchases made on impulse."
"..."
"And not long ago, despite this sea of deficits, I see you attempted investments as well. What is the current state of those investments?"
"..."
"...The current state?"
"...They failed."
At that answer, Elius could only press a hand to his brow. It was a catastrophe beyond catastrophe.
For a man who had labored in matters of governance until the day he died in Britain, this manner of financial stewardship was something he could neither tolerate nor even have conceived.
At last, unable to endure it any longer, Elius made his declaration then and there.
"This beggarly management of wealth is more than I can bear. I shall personally tear it down and rebuild it from the ground up."
"R-really? Then I'm trusting you, Elius! Restore my family's fortune to glory!"
"...Very well. I do owe you a debt, after all."
At Rin's plea, Elius gave a reluctant nod. Smiling at once, Rin rose from her seat and moved to step outside—
Grab.
"And where do you think you are going?"
"E-Elius?"
Rin looked back in confusion at Elius, who had stopped her with a hand upon her shoulder. He smiled at her kindly as he spoke.
"You shall bear your share as well, Rin. Surely you did not mean to cast the whole burden upon me?"
"...."
Rin wore the expression of one struck clean through the heart of the matter. In truth, he had pierced it exactly.
While Elius handled the estate, she had intended to spend her time on magecraft research or with Shirou.
Seeing that look upon her face, Elius smiled with his lips alone, while his eyes did not smile in the least.
"Certainly not. Did you truly think to enjoy the fruits without labor? In this case, the management is a problem, yes, but so too is the one who spends the money."
"...B-but if I get involved, won't I only hinder the management instead?"
"Ha ha, not at all. On the contrary, if you continue spending without understanding even the rudiments of finance, ruin is inevitable."
Elius dismissed her attempt at escape with effortless scorn.
"I had thought, from your usual miserly habits, that you possessed sound financial sense. Since I have now confirmed that my judgment was mistaken... I suppose I must correct that sense myself."
"...Gulp."
Clap!
Bringing his hands together once, Elius made his pronouncement.
"I shall personally drill into you, from A to Z, the proper management of wealth and the principles of sound economy. What are you waiting for?"
"Bring a chair at once and sit down."
At the sight of Elius speaking thus with a fierce expression, Rin came to a profound realization.
When a gentle man is truly angered, he is terrifying indeed.
And so, with tears welling only in her heart, Rin had no choice but to endure Elius's Spartan lectures on finance.
*
"Ha ha ha ha..."
Shirou and Artoria, having come out together to do the shopping after some time, stood gazing upon a spectacle unfolding in the market.
"Th-then what about this one—"
"The quantity is meager and the price is absurd! Put it back this instant!"
There stood Elius, selecting goods from the shelves while continuing his merciless instruction, and beside him stood Rin, being thoroughly scolded.
Watching Rin be shaken down without mercy, Shirou and Artoria could only wear awkward smiles.
At first they had considered intervening, for the training was severe enough to seem almost cruel. In the end, however, they could not bring themselves to stop him.
For they had heard from Elius just how disastrous Rin's grasp of money truly was.
As one who had once ruled a kingdom, and as one who had long managed his own wealth with utmost rigor, Elius understood all too well the depth of the ruin in Rin's finances.
In the end, the two gave up trying to restrain him.
'To think she is the owner of Fuyuki City... how unexpected, Rin.'
'Ghk!'
The image of Rin taking critical damage from those very words was still vivid in Shirou's mind, and so he merely watched.
'Well... perhaps this is for the best. Endure it, Rin.'
'...Do your best, Rin.'
And inwardly, Shirou and Artoria offered up silent prayers for Rin's fate.