Authors Note: Surprised that there isn't that much of depressing Rune Factory fanfictions, oh well. This is my first time writing this sort of fanfic, hopefully it doesn't turn out that bad. I think Vishnal may be a bit of an OOC or just OC in this one, but I genuinely think that there could be some real depressing thoughts that could be really interesting to read. Take Raguna for an example. He left his old life behind just to find Mist, and what happens? He finds her, but now she doesn't want to go back. I kinda felt odd that they didn't expand on Raguna's personal opinion at all. I thought Raguna would be at least a "little" bit angry that she left, but nope! Everything is fine! I would really like to see depressing Raguna Fanfics about him being alone, or just ignored after a while, or how he's trying to handle his loneliness after moving into Tripoli, that he's just tired of doing the same crap over and over again.

P.S. Also, if your wondering how many chapters there will be for this, there will be about five. Two for the Cigarette, one for the Cigar, one for a pipe smoke, and Epilogue.

I wondered why I was doing this right now, leaning on a tree, looking out at the dragon lake, not going to sleep, even though it's midnight. Oh, right, and smoking a cigarette.

I didn't want this to happen, as I took another slow, long, draw of the cigarette in my hand, watching the smoke of the cursed object rise up, poisoning everything around it.

And you know what? It felt nice, it felt real nice. For once, not even a bath at the hotel could give me this much comfort, for once I felt like I truly felt relaxed. My nerves were calm, and I felt the weight on my shoulders lighten, but I knew I couldn't keep this up. What about the princess? The others? When they see me having a smoke, what will they think? This isn't right of a butler!

That's why I only smoke at night, so they will all be inside, while I smoke. Luckily, I got better at sneaking out of the castle, but I knew it wasn't the right thing to do. Why was I doing this?

I remember now as I thought about why. Just the thought of remembering all that happened that day just made me sigh as smoke slowly came out of my mouth.

The first mistake has just begun.

I looked at the mess I had made in the kitchen, flower spewed everywhere. Pots and pans all over the floor, multiple vegetables on the ground, burnt crisp. I looked at my own hands and saw burn marks across them. The smell of smoke was still in the air, but no fire was around. I had luckily already sprayed it out.

I sighed as I saw Clorica wipe her eyes as she looked around the kitchen, before looking straight at me. At that moment, I saw a hidden frustration in her eyes as she took another glance.

"Vishnal, did you try to make breakfast again for the princess..?" As sleepy as her sentences were, I knew Clorica long enough as a fellow butler to know that she was wide awake,

"Y-yeah, I did, but.. It didn't go so well.." I mumbled out. This wasn't supposed to happen, I knew that I wasn't the best at cooking, but for once, I wanted to give the princess a proper breakfast for once! In bed and all!

"Don't worry about this Clorica, I'll clean this up before Mr. Volkanon.." I was about to pick up the broom right next to Clorica, but she blocked my hand and took the broom for herself. I looked up and saw her cleaning up the cupboards and appliances nearby.

"Just go wake up the princess Vishnal, I will take care of this."

I sighed and walked out to go wake up the princess. Already the day was going horribly, but I am determined to make it better! I work hard everyday, and this is just a minor inconvenience! I will become the best butler! I will wake up the pr-...

Then the second mistake occurred.

"WAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed out as I tripped on one of the princess's strewn out items on the floor. I tried to balance myself, but to no avail, I fell face first.

Right onto Princess Frey's bed.

"EEK!" I heard Princess Frey yelp as I tried to regain my senses after crashing. I looked up to see the princess on the edge of her bed, grasping the side like it was her last lifeline. Although she looked pretty cu-

"I HEARD THE SCREAM VISHNAL! WHAT'S WRONG?" I heard Mr. Volkanon come through the door and see me on the princess's bed. My eyes widened as I knew he would get the wrong idea.

"M-Mr. Volka-"

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS VISHNAL?" I winced as he came right up to me and pulled me around to look straight at me. I saw his eyes burning straight into me, I knew if I didn't give a response right now, I'll be toast!

"W-W-Well.. I-I wasn't looking where I was g-going and tripped on something on the f-floor and landed on the Princess Frey's bed..?" I squeaked out pathetically. I felt the grip on my shoulders tighten slightly more as he looked over towards the princess.

"Is this correct Princess?"

After what seemed to be ten seconds, the princess finally spoke up, flustered, and with a tired response..

"Yes, it's true Mr. Volkanon, I didn't really expect my morning to start out like this though.." I saw her with a wry smile, like she was still trying to catch up with the accidental shock I gave her.

"..Very well Vishnal, be sure to never have something like this happen again, understood? I need you to get some supplies from Granny Blossom, mostly Vegetables."

Mr. Volkanon finally let go of me as I shuddered a bit at the thought of ever repeating this incident, I didn't even want to think of the pain..

"I-I understand, I will get to it right away!" I made a quick escape towards the nearest exit when Mr. Volkanon spoke up again.

"Oh, and Vishnal, try not to burn down the kitchen again, will you? The whole reason we need supplies is because of your blunder this morning."

My eyes widened as I felt guilt puddle in my stomach. This is the reason why he's tasking me with this? I slowly nodded my head as I walked out of the south door, head down. People don't realise this, but I get my feelings hurt easily, especially since that in the butler line of work, it is a number one priority to make as little to no mistakes as possible.

At least the trip to Granny Blossom's wasn't as bad. Talking to Doug while getting the necessary supplies needed were a welcome distraction to the events that happened earlier. Dylas came in as well, but unfortunately it ended in Dylas argueing with Doug again. I gave Granny Blossom the necessary gold, and left, supplies in hand.

Then the third and final mistake.

I walked proudly into the foyer as I spot Mr. Volkanon talking to the princess about something. I didn't really pay attention to the conversation, but I was excited to show Mr. Volkanon that i got the supplies.

"Mr. Volkanon sir! I got the supplies!" I shouted as I got closer. I was waiting for Mr. Volkanon to smile, but he simply looked.. Disappointed.

"Did you now? May I take a look?" I gave him the bag that I put the supplies in, but when he looked in, then looked back at me, I saw his face go neutral. Had I done something wrong?

"Erm.. Mr. Volkanon? Is something wrong?"

"Vishnal, did you even know what supplies other than some random vegetables that we needed?"

I was stumped at the question, "Um, no Sir…"

He went quiet for a second before finally telling me what i had done wrong..

"Vishnal, I never gave you the list of supplies you needed to get, you left before I could give them to you, and didn't turn back to look at me."

Oh, oh no. Did I really just get some random supplies?! Was I that busy in conversation back at Blossoms that I didn't realise!?

"You know what Vishnal, take the rest of the day off, Clorica and I can take care of the rest." Mr. Volkanon gave me the same look Clorica gave me this morning. Tired. Frustrated. Annoyed.

His words hit me hard, as Mr. Vokanon never gave out breaks. Unless we were done with everything..

"I-I understand, Sir.." I quickly walked north, and continued until I got to the bench near the Bell Hotel.

I sat down Tiredly, as I put my head in my hands. I should've known sooner. Both Clorica and Volkanon were tired of me messing up all the time. I knew that they were getting annoyed by my constant mistakes, but I never saw any physical form of frustration until today. Was I just that bad as a butler?

"You will never be a butler Vishnal! And that's Final!"

I heard the voice. The voice of my father in my head. Telling me that being a butler was a bad idea.

"Vishy, do you really want to go away? B-But I want to see my big brother everyday!"

The voices, the voices when he ran away that day, to become a butler, and for what reason? What reason did he want to be a butler? I don't remember. I felt like my head was hurting. My muscles felt tense and strained. I felt the depressing thoughts go through my mind as I put my hands to my head, trying to file them out.

"Your useless Vishnal, the best you could do is cleaning, and even I'm better at that then you. You can't even hold dishes correctly"

The voice of Erika, my oldest sister, run through my mind. She was better at everything else, wasn't she? Everything she did was rewarded with praise. Always being better, getting respect. I was the older brother damn it! Why don't my siblings respect me?!

I shook my head as I looked up at the sky. What am I thinking!? My sibling always loved me, why was I thinking of this now? I left them behind for a reason, to pursue a dream.

The tension in my muscles were still there, the headache was still there.

Was it right to become a butler? No, a butler in training? At a castle? Under a fake princess?

My thoughts were broken as I heard margaret's Harp play outside the Diner. I felt myself relax a little at the sound. Meg's harp was always soothing, but it didn't seem to have the same effect as I thought it would. I did feel the urge to eat something however, I haven't eaten all morning!

Making my decision, I slowly got up, and strolled toward the Diner, drooling a bit at the thought of having some curry rice!

I opened the door and entered, already smelling the aromas, as Dylas was serving Kiel some Stew. I sat at the table for two people, I didn't really want to talk to anyone at the moment, I felt my eyes get heavy at the thought of it.

I ordered my food and ate some delicious curry rice! Why do I have to eat cooking that Clorica or someone else makes? I should really just come here every day! Oh wait, i do, just at a later time. Dylas did seem kind of surprised I'm here so early…

I paid the gold required and got up, when I saw Arthur sitting at his desk from where I was sitting. It wouldn't hurt to have a look at what he was selling, right? Arthur has items you couldn't get at Selphia. I get fired up at the thought of getting some rare item to show off!

"..Yes..Yes.. Alright, thank you for your support." I overheard I bit of conversation that Arthur was having when I walked in. However, Arthur was getting up quickly, probably to leave...

"Arthur! Sorry to make you stay for a second, but can I look at what you're selling really quickly?"

Arthur seemed to be in a hurry, but he stopped for a second to look at me.

"I'm sorry Vishnal, but i have to leave immediately... Actually how about this? You leave the amount of gold on my desk for whatever you want to buy? All the wares are to the right of the desk." he quickly turned and swiftly left to whatever task he was doing before.. He seemed busier than I thought he would today.

Moving towards the right of the desk, I browsed the wares with weary eyes, the headache was coming back, and the tension in my muscles hasn't gone away. Gah, why is it coming back now!?

Looking at the wares more intently, I realised that there was something on the very far right that was barely noticeable. I put my finger on it and let it come out of it's little hiding hole when my eyes widened.

Cigarettes. 1000 G's.

Arthur sells these kinds of things!?

I knew that Cigarettes were bad for you, even if they were newly invented, they were no different from Cigars or Pipes. But from what I've heard is that they help with calming nerves down..

...

I left the necessary G's down, and left quickly.

I was going to regret this wasn't I? Wait, How do I light one of these?