There Once Was a God

Chapter Two

a/n: the long awaited chapter two! lots of farming and vishnal being a cutie~

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When Valui stepped out into the bright sunlight, she was temporarily blinded. Her eyes squinted against the harsh rays of light, staying like that for a few moments until she believed them to be adjusted. Eyelids flickered open slowly to reveal to her a field of dirt that was obviously plowed for farming despite it looking as if it hadn't been touched in months. There were weeds everywhere along with logs and tree stumps and rocks of every shape, size, and color.

Had this field ever been used at all?

Standing amongst the various forms of rubble on the prepared dirt was a young-looking man with pale blue hair that fell across his shoulder and blue eyes almost matching Valui's. He was dressed as Volkanon was, leading the girl to believe that he was another butler that worked for Venti. He smiled at her (it was a smile that was almost as bright as the sun and one so contagious that it made Valui smile as well).

"Ah, you must be the princess," he greeted, his voice soft yet cheerful. "Mr. Volkanon said your name was Arthur?"

She wanted to correct this issue quickly, but everything about him just seemed so sweet and genuinely nice that she could hardly bring herself to. "A-actually, my name's Valui." Her smile faltered a bit as she spoke, fearing she would upset him. "A-and I'm really not a princess; Venti must have made some mistake."

"Venti?" He echoed the name she had spoken, his happy expression becoming replaced with a confused one. Seemingly forgetting it with a shake of his head, he let his smile return and responded to her statements. "Nice to meet you, Princess Valui! My name's Vishnal."

At least he heard half of it.

Disregarded the unfitting and unnecessary title, Valui allowed herself to smile back and answer with, "Nice to meet you, too." She paused, scanning the field once more before returning her gaze to Vishnal. "I guess you're going to be teaching me farming...?"

"Yep! So first things first." He tapped a small rock with the toe of his shoe, causing it slide in the dirt. "You need to clean up enough space to start growing something."

There were plenty of small things in the field — weeds, rocks, small tree limbs. Valui gave a small nod, moving to a patch of dirt in the corner of the field. She pulled the weeds out first, finding those to be the easiest; a tree limb was picked up and tossed to the side of the field, followed by two more to make a small pile with the pulled weeds; and last was a small rock that took both of her hands to pick up and carry over to the pile.

"What about the rest of the stuff?" Valui asked, walking back over to where Vishnal was, brushing the dirt off her hands as she did so. "Like the big rocks and tree stumps?"

"Those are for a later time." Vishnal moved over to a tool bin, pulling out a hoe and walking back to where he had left Valui standing. As he handed her the tool, he continued, "You need to build up strength and stamina first. You got really out-of-breath just pulling weeds!" There was a small laugh attached to his voice, yet Valui didn't find herself growing offended or upset. There was something about his voice, tone, and overall demeanor that told her he wasn't trying to be malicious at all.

Something about the way he acted made her feel as if they had been best friends.

With a small, feigned angry huff, Valui took the tool from him. "Not my fault; I'm a princess, remember?" She turned up her nose and headed back toward the cleared patch of dirt. Yet as she did so, she let a giggle leave her lips.