“I meant by feet.”

He had to calm down.

Being mean to mentally impaired people is a bad thing to do.

“How should Koro know? Koro doesn’t have feet! Koro has these!”

Then she lifted her leg and started clenching the talons on her leg.

The young man wanted to be angry but he couldn’t anymore.

Furthermore, it made sense now she said this.

Walking with these wouldn’t be exactly what he would like to do.

On the other hand, if you can fly then why the fuck would you not?

“Sigh... You are right. Well, I won’t disturb you anymore. I need to go look for it.”

With this, he planned to finally go back so he could look for it.

He already wasted too much time here.

“Ah, Mr.Housekeeper! Koro can help!”

‘Hmm?’

When he turned around he saw the Koro trying to keep him here and he became suspicious.

“Why would you help?”

“Well…”

She started to hesitate and that made him even more suspicious of her plans.

After being silent for a moment she started to talk.

But she was so quiet that he almost couldn’t hear her so he got closer to her to hear better.

“Koro just likes talking to Mr. Housekeeper. Koro didn’t talk to anyone that much. They say that Koro is stupid behind her back. But she really enjoyed talking with you so she wanted to help!”

Koro was fidgeting as she said this.

This made him soften a little.

She didn’t look like a bad person. But having the patience to deal with her may not manifest in everyone.

‘I mean, she is even talking in the third person… If it was someone else I would think that she is doing it for being cute…’

So after he relented he chose to hear her out.

“Okay then. We will be neighbors from now on so I guess helping each other will be a must. How do you want to help me?”

When he asked he leaned on the railing he got close to.

Which was a fatal mistake.

Koro, who seemed to be sad, started to twinkle at his words and suddenly jumped at him.

“Wha?!”

This surprised him a lot but it was too late.

As he was a little beyond the railing, Koro managed to grab his shoulders within her talons as she grinned.

“Koro will take Mr.Housekeeper there! Obviously!”

And with that, she took off the ground with him hanging on her with his dear life.

“Aaaaugh!”

His loud cry was echoing throughout the air as he was forcibly taken into the sky.

She started to fly higher as they were flying over the roof of the house.

“Don’t worry! It is just a short flight! There is no way that Koro would let yo- oops!”

Just as she wanted to assure him, one of his shoulders slipped out of her grip and he started to fall.

Fortunately, she caught him by the leg.

*Bang!*

But as they were not so high yet he banged his head over the roof.

“You! Idioooot!”

With tears in his house, he held his head as he hurriedly dodged a chimney he almost rammed into.

He felt the blood pressure in his head and his face got crimson because of that.

“Don’t blush like that Mr.Housekeeper. Koro will always be happy to help people in emergencies!”

When she saw his face she smiled while telling him this.

“You bird brain!”

“Ah! Don’t compliment Koro or Koro will start blushing too!”

She started to giggle with a content smile as her cheeks reddened a little.

“...”

He felt profound sadness at this moment.

‘Why is this happening to me?! What sort of sin did I commit? I just wanted to help an injured kitten!’

In the end, he didn’t have the energy to even complain as he was alert of any dangerous thing he could ram into.

Only by the corner of his eye, he saw a little bit of the scenery around.

He noticed that the jungle from before couldn’t be seen anymore as they went in different directions.

On the other hand, he saw a white land from a distance with mountains.

‘How?!’

Seeing the land of ice being so close to the hot yet humid jungle was blowing his mind.

He knew that there is magic and shit but the place still should have some basic rules of physics like gravity and things. Right?

He felt like doubting the gravity at this point wouldn't be the best idea.

His luck was never really good. He will definitely jinx himself if he ever says it loudly.

“We are soon there! Koro sees the garden’s gate already!”

Her excited voice awoke him from his delusion as tried to look in front of them.

There, a lush green place full of trees, bushes, and flowers was spreading out before his eyes.

This garden felt quite a calming place.

If not for the fact that the entire place was completely overgrown.

‘Damn, so even this gardener is useless.’

He really hoped that the gardener would finally be someone capable but it seems that this realm lacks such people.

“This is it! This is it! Koro done well, right? Hahaha…”

Koro said this as she flew over the garden right above the only pond in the area.

It was admirable that a girl half his weight managed to fly him over such a distance.

However, hearing her heavy breathing gave him a very bad premonition.

“H-hey, can’t you get l-lower? I will fall at this rate!”

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He feared that she would accidentally let go.

“Yes! Koro got Mr.Housekeeper above the pond he searched for! Koro hopes Mr.Housekeeper gets what he wants. Let’s meet again in the future!”

“Wait!”

But Koro, with a smile on her cute face threw him in the air right above the pond and waved at him briefly.

Then she flew away.

Several thoughts were going on in his mind at the moment.

But the most important one was…

‘Why the fuck do I need to die like this?!’

Even though there was a pond under him he was too high.

He heard that falling from a high height into water is like falling on concrete.

So it didn’t matter at that point!

‘Fuuuuck!’

But just as he saw he would fall into the garden his body flew through some kind of weird invisible film.

His vision darkened for a moment and things around him changed.

Gone is the small overgrown garden whose edges could be clearly seen from the bird’s perspective.

Instead, the garden seemed to turn infinitive as no matter which direction he looked there was nothing else to see except the garden.

‘Where the fuck am I now?! Some kind of illusion?’

Unfortunately, none of this slowed down his fall.

The only difference was that the fall was now even longer as the ground was literally farther from him than when Koro let him go.

“God why meeeee?!”

*Splash*

Soon he fell head-first into the water.

Surprisingly he didn’t get hurt and it felt as if he fell just from a few meters.

But he didn’t think about that as the only thing that came to his mind at this moment was simple.

‘Survive! I need to survive!’

He submerged too deep and didn’t know how to get up from down.

Furthermore, the sudden impact took off the air in his lungs making it hard for him to not gasp for air underwater.

*Gurgle*

He was in such a confused state that he couldn’t think properly and started to drown.

However, as he breathed in the water in his lungs he suddenly stopped to struggle.

With a confused face, he put his arm before his mouth.

‘What the fuck?!’

He didn’t feel as if he just took a breath of water but just normal air.

Or at least similar to the water in a liquid state.

This was a big surprise for him but thanks to it he could calm down and collect himself.

He noticed that the water had some kind of water current around it despite it being just a pond.

That was the reason why he was so disoriented as he was forcibly taken by them.

‘Damn, I would drown if it was normal water! Damn that bird!’

As he looked around he realized how clear the water was. He could see in the distance a few fishes that were avoiding the place he was and on the walls he could see algae of all colors growing.

But instead of marveling at the place he started to swim upwards to get to the surface.

*Splash*

“Ah!”

He felt a need to breathe despite not needing it making it a very weird experience.

He was right in the center of the pond which didn’t grow too much considering the growth of the entire garden. It was really a miracle that Koro managed to pull this off without killing him.

“Damn that bird… I will make sure that she knows my appreciation of this.”

As he muttered this to himself he swam to the surface.

Just as he was getting out he noticed the breeze on his family jewels giving him goosebumps.

‘Why am I naked again?’

He looked around looking for his clothes.

The thing was holding itself on him so firmly in the bedroom but now when he left it disappeared without a trace.

But he didn’t give a fuck now.

His dignity was disturbed several times in a very short time despite the time not flowing here.

Moreover, it had the damn key in the pocket!

‘Fuck!’

*Meow*

At this moment he heard a light meowing.

‘Kitty?’

At first, he thought that it was a kitty but he left her in the bedroom.

He started to look around for the source.

All around him were trees, bushes, and flowers.

Only the clearing, where the pond was, was without any tall flora and only grass grew around.

*Meow*

Soon he realized that it was a sound from above. He looked at the branches of the trees if he could see the creature making the sounds.

These, albeit still larger than regular ones on Earth, were much smaller than those in that jungle and could see their crowns under certain angles well.

But even those trees were covered in ivy hiding whatever was behind their leaves.

*Meow*

“!!!”

With the turn of his body, he looked at the place he heard the meowing from.

There, a small kitten was sitting on the branch of the tree while licking its paw.

“What? Another one?”

The difference was that this one was completely black.

“Hello, little one? What are you doing there? Do you need help to get down?”

The first thing he wanted to do was to help but then he noticed that the kitten was the same as the white one. Not similar but completely the same.

“Weird… Are you really just a kitty?”

He expressed his doubt and didn’t get closer anymore.

In fact, he felt stupid for even thinking it was just a normal cat for a moment.

In this place, nothing is normal.

Moreover calling it kitty was also weird considering he was called in such a way white kitten.

‘Ugh. I guess I will need to name it soon. But I suck at giving names... Hah… Such a headache.’

Since the black kitten didn’t seem to be unfriendly he chose to ignore it.

Of course, he was still alert and was on guard against it.

But for now, his priority was to find his living cloak. It would be hard since it was obvious it could morph into different shapes-

With a stoic face, he once again turned to the ‘black’ cat.

“Are you that cloak?”

“Hehehe”

The strange laugh came out of the kitten’s mouth as it looked condescendingly at him.

“...”

The corner of his eyes twitched as he watched the cat making fun of him.

“So you are my cloak!”

It sneered, turned its back towards him, and disappeared into the thicket of the garden.

“Hey! You can’t abandon me at this moment! I wanted to take different clothes before so why now when I am here damn it!”

‘Damn it. I will never leave the room without taking at least the spare pants! Okay, this is my fith- no a sixth rule!

Rule 6: Have spare non-living clothes at all times!’

Why number six when there was no number five yet?

There would be if he didn’t almost drown because of that.

‘I didn’t forget you Koro! Two rules in one meeting, how generous!

Rule 5: Never accept anyone’s help if you don’t know what they would do.’

It may seem silly to others but this is how the young man learned to cope with most situations in his life. The creation of his inner rules was just one of his quirks.

Fortunately, he is in a place where those rules are useful and will help him in his job of Housekeeping.

Until he finds his way home.

He wanted to go after it since without clothes he was where he started when he woke up but after a few steps, he could only stop in surprise.

“Careful, You horse piece of shit!”

“Yeah, if you step on us I swear I will pull your ass off!”

A very vulgar word came out from below his feet.

With an astonished face, he quickly retreated and looked at the place.

“Flowers?”

The flowers that seemed to be just normal ones a few seconds ago were now frowning at him as their faces showed up.

What was peculiar was that the faces were that of old men and it looked as if they were from some grotesque horror movie.

“What? Do you want to say we don’t look like flowers to you, fucker? Huh?

“What a retard. He is even going around naked as if he came out of the cave.”

“He even bathed in the sacred pond! I thought it was some big shot but it is more like a bigot, haha! I hope the gardener will snip off his body parts!”

With an aghast face, he watched those ‘guys’ cursing at him.

At the loud voices, the other plants also started to move and wriggle showing that the calm from before was just a show.

‘Did the splash startle them? What should I do? They won’t attack right?’

The ground under him was wiggling as the roots were moving under it, greatly creeping him out.

The branches with thorns were circling the trees around the pond slowly closing his escape path.

“Wait! I didn’t want to hurt you!”

He wanted to clear the misunderstanding but they were not keen on listening.

“Shut up, you naked monkey!”

“Nobody cares! Become fertilizer!”

His face was twisted.

‘Sera! You lied to me!’

This place wasn’t safe at all!

*Boom*

The roots suddenly burst out of the ground and wanted to tie him up.

But he knew this could happen and was quickly retreating towards the pond.

“You dirty bag of shit! Don’t sully the sacred pond again!”

This angered the flowers even more as they saw him jumping back into the water.

“Fuck you! It is your fault for attacking me!”

“Tsk. Surround him! We will wait until that fucker gets out. Waiting is our strength!”

The roots leaned on the ground and with tremors helped the old but strong trees around to get up from the ground and slowly get closer to the pond.

While he was in a very dire situation he got calm suddenly as he was floating in the water watching those trees getting over.

‘Hmm?’

It was a very peculiar feeling. Before he didn’t notice but now he felt it perfectly.

‘Is that why they call it sacred?’

While he felt this way he scrutinized the beings around the pond.

The talking flowers while in the minority in this place were still numerous.

Most of them were ugly and had deep voices.

The most numerous flower with faces was the sunflower.

On the other hand, other flowers had different characteristics.

There were some with thorny branches used as feet, some had weird mucus on them, and some of them smelled of nectar from a distance.

That smell made him a little dizzy but thankfully the water around him negated it a second after.

He even saw some very big trapping organs showing that this place has carnivorous plants too…

‘Will I die this way? Wait, how many times have I thought like that today? My heart is too weak for this…’

And so he waited in the water and watched the outraged flora.

In the end, he didn’t have anything to do so he started to drink the water from the pond.

He was extremely thirsty and he didn’t drink anything ever since he was kidnapped.

Was it disgusting that he drank water from the pond in which he was floating naked?

Yes.

Does he care?

No.

He is happy that he finally has something to drink so why would he care if it is dirty?

Furthermore, it doesn’t even seem that way since the water was so clear!

He couldn’t even notice that he polluted it in some way.

‘Wait a minute.’

As he thought so he noticed that he was quite clean. Too clean for the fact that all he did was submerge in the water.

“Damn, I was like a pig before. I thought I would need to scrub it for a long time until my skin fell off.”

Sleeping and running in the filthiest place he ever saw was the sure way to get dirty.

“This water…”

“Is a very sacred artifact that should be in no way sullied by any kind of filth. That makes it sacred.”

The voice finished his sentence.

With a flinch, he looked around.

“Don’t look for me. I have no desire to meet you when you are walking around in this state.”

That voice was quite cold but pleasant to listen to.

He was a little embarrassed by her pointing out his naked self as he wasn’t comfortable that someone could see him in his state.

He didn’t care about the trees around since they were, well, trees.

But this voice was from someone of authority. He could guess who it was. Moreover, it was a feminine voice. Again.

‘Does this place have no men left? Sir Azaar, I miss you!’

Despite never having a proper talk with the man he already missed him.

His dignity was slowly falling lower and lower.

“May I ask who you are?”

But still, he had to ask the voice.

If he was wrong he would be embarrassed even more.

“If you already know the answer then why ask? Whatever. Others call me by the title of Gardener and I tend to the flora in all gardens of this place. Now tell me, why are you swimming in the sacred pond?”

As she said this the shadows of the trees around him lengthened as they almost reached him. He felt that those creatures were actually creepily smiling at him!