“Yeah, you bastard. Why don’t you just di-”

“SILENCE.”

The flowers didn’t like him even a bit but the Gardener’s authority in her territory was unquestionable.

The flower that spoke lowered its stem meekly as if bowing.

‘Well, that’s bizarre.’

Seeing this he was truly amazed by the situation he was in.

But he didn’t dwell on it for too long as he felt the pressure build-up with his silence.

“W-well. I didn’t plan to bathe in it. Sera told me that this is the only place that is safe and has a source of water to take away. I just fell into it accidentally.”

When he said this the silence engulfed the place.

He held his breath at this.

The situation would be quite humorous if not for the fact that his life was on the line and that the Gardener had it completely in her hands.

“Sera? Who… Oh. You mean the failed dullahan.”

‘Uff… That’s kinda harsh. But then, it seems to be a fact though.’

When he thought so the Gardener continued talking.

“I remember. She should be tending to the house for some time… She was right. I usually permit everyone to drink from the pond. It is just right to do so. However! It is one thing to drink from it and the other to bathe in it as a barbarian!”

The more she continued to talk the more cold her voice was turning.

That made him really scared shitless.

‘Damn you Koro!’

“I was in an accident, I swear! I just asked Koro where this place is and she forcibly took me in the air and threw me into the pond! I thought that I would die! But she meant well too. I think. I hope at least. Else I will kick that bird’s brain in the ass once I see her.”

“...”

Silence permeated the garden once again.

“Your tongue is really vulgar… Calling mentally slow harpy like that…”

He just pursed his lips at this.

‘You are the one with a vulgar tongue!’

“Furthermore none of this changes the fact that instead of getting out you stayed in the pond, naked on top of that!”

With a roll of his eyes, he explained his plight.

“When I went out as soon as possible, the flowers attacked me and cornered me! I just took a step beside them and they started to scream and threaten me! What could I do other than get back to the pond where it was safe?! Even my clothes abandoned me! It turned into a cat and fled with a mocking gaze!”

The more he spoke the more grievance he felt.

‘Why me?’

Almost every step he took in this damned place could be fatal to him.

Now he was interrogated as a criminal while being naked in the pond.

“Is that true?”

When the Gardener asked this it was obvious that it wasn’t directed at him but at the flora around, namely the talking flowers that started this fiasco.

“Y-Yes, but-”

“Inexcusable! Return to your places and take your roots there!”

The voice trembled in anger as she said this.

The flora started to retreat in silence.

Soon, it looked as if nothing happened in this place and that it was just a normal garden.

“And you. Get out of the water and wait.”

It was an order and not a request.

And so he got out of the water while covering himself.

But the voice didn’t talk again.

It seemed as if she just abandoned him.

However, he didn’t plan to go anywhere.

This place was too scary for that.

And so, he waited for some time.

In the end, he just sat in front of the pond and watched the water.

Of course, he was still alert of anything that could attack him.

In that case, he would get inside the pond despite the words of the Gardener.

Hopefully, she would understand if that really happened.

She didn’t seem to be an unreasonable person.

“Here.”

As he was lost in his thoughts, the voice behind him sounded out.

“Agh?!”

With a jump he turned but there was no one.

There was only a perfectly folded suit and on it laid a very simple and rung-down waterskin.

The suit was the same one from his Master Bedroom.

“How?”

“I just asked for it. Now put it on and don’t walk naked here.”

The voice was heard from all directions again.

“Can’t you talk with me normally?”

He wanted to talk eye to eye. Talking to emptiness was weird.

“No. I have no such desire. In truth, I have no desire to talk to you that much.”

She stopped for a moment and then she continued.

“But.. There is one thing I would like to know. How could a human such as you get here in your physical body? You should be new here, right?”

There was intrigue in her voice as she asked this. And it was no wonder.

‘Who would believe that I was sucked in because I held the kitten that was supposed to be the next successor?’

He thought sarcastically.

However, he answered as best as he could as she brought him the clothes which he was grateful for.

“I was taken in accidentally by the house when I held the real candidate of being Housekeeper. I don’t know how though.”

At this, he could only shrug.

“I see.”

The voice turned complicated as if she felt pity for him.

For that, he could only smile wryly as he took the suit on himself while holding the waterskin in his hands.

‘This waterskin looks old but it is actually pretty good. I can use it fine. I will just look if the inside isn’t disgusting.’

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Fortunately, the suit seemed to fit him perfectly as he felt comfortable in it.

It wasn’t as comfortable as the cloak though.

“By the way, how did you know that my body is material? Or more importantly, how can someone know the differences?”

He asked this as he wondered about it for some time.

Sera didn’t even know he was still very kicking and fine until he told her.

But the Gardener knew from the beginning.

“The difference is usually obvious from one look. Only the skilled could deceive others. The reason why it is so hard here is because this place is special. It is the intersection of Spiritual and Material. Nothing is normal here. Normally you can see if you have the body or not.”

The young man widened his eyes at this.

‘This is some special place even in the eyes of those monster girls? I’m fucked!’

But he quickly calmed down. He can’t panic at this moment.

“Then how did you know Miss Gardener?”

“The water you sullied is no normal water. It is a sacred one, full of divine might. It can purify anything it touches. That includes spirits and bodies. There is just a difference in visuals.”

“Oh…”

He expected something more professional than this. Like magical eyes or some other shit…

“And because it is sacred it is a hated substance to those living in darkness. Like Púca.”

However, she continued talking.

‘Didn’t she say she doesn’t want to talk with me?’

But after saying her sentence she fell silent once again.

Nobody talked for a whole minute.

‘Does she want me to ask?’

“What or what is Púca?”

“Púca is a creature of the dark, a goblin of mischief. It can affect to a certain extent the luck of others in good or bad ways. But it is always better to avoid one if possible. As their strongest trait, shapeshifting, allows them to do countless tricks and pranks.”

“...”

This was kinda cute.

The expectation of him asking and the immediate response made his mouth curl a little.

This kind of childish behavior with the contrast of her authoritative status made it look funny.

But he could understand.

He felt like going crazy in this garden full of screaming flowers just after one day. Or what should he call it since the time doesn’t flow?

Counting the fact that they were more like her subordinates than acquaintances.

They were not good companions for small talk.

Furthermore, most of the tenants seem to be distant and don't even call each other by name.

Koro also said she was lonely…

‘Whatever. Keeping good relationships with the tenants should be my priority. I will gladly talk about this shapeshifting creature or any other for hours.’

Then with a smile he planned to answer her but his expression froze.

‘Shapeshifting?’

Before he thought mostly about the Gardener and not her words.

But now he connected the dots.

‘So that’s why she talked about it…’

“You want to say that the cloak I had on myself was that Púca?”

“Yes. Normally Púcas can transform into some animals or simple humanoids like humans but this one is special. It can transform into almost everything. It is so good at hiding that I don’t even remember when someone saw it last time. How did you find it?”

“I just touched the fabric and it started to surround me and take on the appearance of a cloak. At that time I didn’t have much time to question it though.”

‘At least it didn’t hurt me.’

“Hmm? That’s interesting. Normally it would continue in hiding. Maybe you are not just a normal human as you said. Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? The Púca already escaped the garden, anyway. Who knows when we will see it ever again.”

‘Well as long as I have normal suits…’

He didn’t mind. In fact, it would make some things easier.

What attracted his attention was her talking about time to see it again.

By Koro’s words, time doesn’t flow here.

Was it just a figure of speech?

‘It is better to just ask. It is not like she dislikes talking with me so far.’

As he thought so, he expressed his doubts to her and told her about his conversation with Koro who told him all those things.

“Sigh... How silly. You were the one who called her bird brain yet you believed her so easily.”

Saying this, he could vividly imagine in his head how a woman shakes her head in disappointment.

His brows twitched at this.

“So it wasn’t true?”

“Oh, it was the truth.”

“...”

‘Why would you tell me this if it was true?’

But his silence prompted Gardener to continue.

“Or at least partially. The time really doesn’t flow here because of the first Housekeeper but that doesn’t mean it can’t be measured.”

“Hah?”

This was too much for him. He didn’t understand.

Seeing his confusion, Gardener collaborated with a light voice.

“Measurement of time was invented by sentient beings. It is a way to understand time but mostly it was for its utility. And this utility can be used even in places where time doesn’t flow. Of course, only strong beings could try to measure ‘time’ in a timeless place. But one of the Housekeepers was such a person. He was the one who created timeless clocks that are around in this realm that can be used for reading time.”

‘So there is such a story behind it. It is kinda hard to understand but that should be obvious since I can’t fathom what a timeless place truly is like. I don’t feel any difference now except that I don’t know how much time passed. Or not passed.’

“I see, that’s amazing. How is the time measured then? In my home place, it was decided by the rotation of the planet around the sun. giving it a cycle of day and night and years.”

That was what he thought about.

This wasn’t some kind of story that would have the same time measurements as the Earth.

“That’s the interesting part. For everyone it is different.”

“...”

‘Isn’t that useless then?!’

This already lost half of the usefulness of proper time measurement!

His questioning eyes would pierce her own eyes if she was in front of him.

Unfortunately, he could only look around with strange expressions.

“You see, everyone thinks differently about time. There is no such standard time measurement like the Spirit Language we are talking about right now. Because of that, the Housekeeper made it so everyone had their own clocks. However, when a new Housekeeper shows up, their time cycle will become the main one for the time being. If I am not wrong then the person you held is a candidate, right? That means that nothing will change for you since he is from the same place as you. ”

‘What? I talked in a completely different language?’

He didn’t even realize it. But then, it was weird that he hadn’t questioned it before already.

After all, there is no way that a place full of creatures from different words or even dimensions would talk in the same language.

But he thought about it for only a moment before he continued in his conversation.

“What do you mean? Weren’t you in my bedroom to take the clothes?”

“Why do you ask? I was not. I am forbidden to go inside. I just had to make a deal with the house.”

‘Why would she be forbidden? Does the house discriminate or something?’

“Why can’t you go inside?”

“Oh, I just almost razed the place.”

He didn’t expect that.

“But that st-”

“Few times.”

“...”

‘So even houses can feel grievances, huh.’

He felt almost bad for it. If not for the fact that he was also almost razed to the ground because of it.

“Well, it happens.”

“Yes.”

She agreed with that, not knowing that he was thinking completely otherwise.

“Actually, the candidate that the house chose was just a newborn kitten. It isn’t in the state where it can run the place. And since I want to get home I need the Housekeeper’s permission. So, I just decided to become one myself since it will be the fastest way.”

“...”

This time it was the Gardener’s turn to get silent.

She lived here for a long time so she knew more about the house than him.

The more so it made her feel uneasy hearing this.

“What are you planning to do now? Didn’t the last Housekeeper trouble us enough here?”

She muttered this to herself too quiet for him to hear.

The thought of the broken realm made her feel a headache.

“Haah… This conversation made me tired. Just do your things and go back.”

Thinking about it she felt her mood getting spoiled which made her lose interest in the talk.

“Wait! Where can I find food that is good for humans and cats?”

But he couldn’t let her just ditch him. If he doesn’t get the food he will starve to death.

“There are trees everywhere. Just find the ones with fruits. Every fruit is edible for spirits. As for humans… For now, I will tell the garden to show you only the edible ones. But you should learn which could be deadly for you.”

With that, her voice disappeared.

However, he didn’t stop talking.

“Thank you. Let’s talk someday again!”

‘Do you think I will believe you just left? Ha! I am not that stupid.’

The entire garden was her domain. How could she not know what he was doing?

So saying something like this will definitely make him more likable in her eyes.

At least he hoped so.

He doesn’t want to act too manipulative but for his survival, he will do some things even if little unpleasant.

‘It is just a few words. It is not like I am doing something bad.’

As he thought so he got closer to the pond with the waterskin.

He didn’t know if it was dirty from inside but since it was given by the Gardener it shouldn’t be.

However, even if it did he couldn’t care less now.

Even if it was a little dirty, water was water.

He opened the waterskin and submerged it into a pond.

With bubbles, the water started to flow inside.

And so he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

‘Huh?’

He felt that even the surface of the pond got lower before the water stopped flowing in.

When he took the waterskin from the water, the weight didn’t change.

He shook it a little and felt that there was water but also felt that it was too little from the water he took.

He sniffed the opening and when he smelled nothing he took a gulp.

The refreshing taste of sacred water got down his mouth as he tried to feel if something was wrong with it.

But the water tasted the same as before.

Then he started to pour the water back to know how much of the water was in it.

That also took some time as it was quite full.

“Damn, the insides must be bigger than the outside! Even this broken waterskin is a treasure!”

When he got to know that the waterskin could hold much more water than it looked he was happy.

After all, if he wanted to bathe he couldn’t use the sacred pond, right? But getting the water from here would be hard too.

But with this, it was extremely easy.

With a satisfied smile, he once again submerged the waterskin and waited for it to fill up.

Once it was full he strapped it on his waist and started to go further in the garden.

Since the trees got out of the way he could finally see the pathways that were hidden by them.

He went on looking around at the exotic trees to see if they got something to eat.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to go far as he soon found trees full of the fruit.

“Lucky.”

As he stretched out for those, the branch on which it hung got higher suddenly.

“???”

But he didn’t dwell on it since he wasn’t confident to climb those trees and went for another one next to it.

However, that got higher too.

“You gotta be kidding me!”

This made him a little mad.

*Giggle*

He even felt that he heard a giggling but he thought it was just his senses playing tricks on him.

Or at least he hoped.

He racked his brain about what to do.

‘Should I call Gardener? That would be awkward…’

But as he thought of this he remembered what she said about hiding the poisonous fruits.

‘Did she mean this when she talked about it?’

Because this wasn’t how he imagined the definition of the word ‘hiding’.

The trees were teasing him!

And so he had to go through trial and error to find which fruit wouldn't be snatched in front of him.

This made the entire task lengthy but he won’t get angry about that.

Better to do it for a longer time than to do it fast and then drop dead after eating the wrong fruit.

But that won’t stop him from grumbling under his nose.

What he didn’t know was that the Gardener watched this while giggling to herself as she commanded the trees to do it this way.