Miss Planeswalker, are you free for romance?

The world is developing, and humans are progressing at a speed that we cannot catch up with. Perhaps one day, when we emerge from the gap in the floor, we will no longer be able to understand this world at all.'

Arrietty still remembers the old man's dazed words.

He held the long pipe in his hand and smoked it, his cheeks puffed out.

Thick smoke came out of his nose, choking Arrietty so much that she grabbed his white beard and started pulling it.

'Ahem. Anyway, little one, remember what I left for you in the diary.

The queen who saves our clan will eventually appear.

What the Master Planeswalker said is never wrong.

What's more, he is a fate changer.'

"Fate Changer?" young Arrietty asked weakly. The name hummed in her throat and gave her a strange feeling.

The old man came back to his senses and looked at his little granddaughter in his arms, with a doting smile on his wrinkled face: "Yes, the fate changer, the people in the multiverse who fear her, all call her that."

'Control fate and manipulate the direction of everything.'

'She knows the past, present, and future,

Time seemed to be like butter being sliced ​​with a hot knife, lying before her for her to choose.

I even saw her destroy a universe with my own eyes.'

'She had invited me, as her subordinate, to travel with her.

See more worlds and gain immortal life.'

Arrietty looked up in confusion. The old man was immersed in his memories. His neck was full of wrinkles and he looked very old.

'Unfortunately, I did not accept her invitation.'

"Immortality? Does that mean you won't age?"

Arrietty didn't understand how anyone could be so stupid.

If he could stay young forever, why would grandpa refuse?

Chapter 8 Betting

'Because I asked her for a chance.'

An opportunity for the dwarf race and our fairy race to continue.

"Take care of that withered plant, my little Arrietty. One day... one day. The destiny of our race will make it flourish again."

Old Pod died three days later, and Arrietty's parents held a simple funeral for him.

During this time, the little girl looked around, but did not see the fortune teller that the old man had mentioned come to the funeral.

Later, as the years passed, she grew up.

The house continued to age and become mottled, and was renovated again and again.

Tenants came and went one by one.

Arrietty even began to doubt whether her grandfather's words were true...

Or is it just his imagination?

"Of course it's just imagination!"

Homily waved her rough hand in front of Arrietty to draw the absent-minded girl toward her. "He's too old, and a rat kicked him in the head, so he's not very smart anymore. He'll only fool a girl like you who's never been far away."

Pod was not happy about his wife saying that about his father, but he agreed that it was all just fantasy.

He also told him what his father had said to his daughter.

Those amazing dragons and magic and flying humans;

A hero whose eyes can fire fiery lasers that can melt the earth;

Ancient ships that sail without wind;

And magic wands, and old pointy hats that talk...

Lies! All lies!

The old guy had his brain kicked by a rat, and he's been acting crazy ever since he reappeared after disappearing for twenty years, and even Arrietty was 'infected' by him.

Pod especially regretted leaving his young daughter in the care of her father.

So now the girl is like an illiterate, and the happiest thing for her every day is to sneak out, pick up bread crumbs, and drink water from the vase.

Not like a cautious little human.

She's more human...

Or something.

Courage. The dwarfs don’t need courage, they just need to survive.

Pod sighed deeply, thinking that his daughter's future was bleak. Perhaps his branch would be extinct at the hands of Arrietty?

"But it blooms! It's dead, isn't it?

It’s alive!”

Arrietty was still arguing with her mother, and Pod interrupted the conversation by fanning his fat palms: "Arrietty, we all know that the flower pot is dead.

The reason I didn’t throw it away is because when you were a kid you always loved to climb up there and take a nap on that diamond-shaped rhizome.”

"It is impossible to revive a dead plant."

"But it's really alive! Dad!"

Homily looked at her husband anxiously.

She had a feeling that her peaceful and stable daily life was about to disappear in the words of her husband.

That's right, Pod was not the kind of person who would argue with reason. He nodded and made a bet with his daughter.

"All right, all right, Arrietty. I can't convince you any more than my father could convince me of his tricks."

Pod said gently, "Well, let's make a bet, shall we?"

Pod winked at Homily, soothed his wife, and then reached out and stroked Arrietty's bright coral hair.

"I'll go with you tomorrow. If it's open, your mother and I..." He looked at Homily: "your mother and I will 'preliminarily' approve of you and your grandfather's prophecy."

After saying that, Pod changed the subject: "If it's not open..."

Arrietty said quickly: "It's open!"

"But we're making a bet, you have to let me finish the other part, right?"

The girl folded her arms over her chest and pouted.

The father said the other half: "If it doesn't bloom, or just withers there, then you have to promise me two things."

"First, I will bring Spiller back to live with you. You have to get along well with him."

Arrietty jumped up from her chair like a madman: "I don't like that dirty guy!"

Spiller was one year younger than Arrietty.

He has no family and lives a wild life alone.

This young dwarf hunter's skills are as superb as Pod's. He once saved Pod's life from the knife of a praying mantis.

Later, after becoming familiar with the Pod family, this wild little man with a bow and arrow often visited the Pod family, bringing some fruits and leaves.

Homily and Pod both liked the boy with the gray hair.

Of course, Alietiko didn't want to play with dirty boys.

Moreover, she also understood what her parents were planning.

No.

Pod spread his hands helplessly: "That's the later step. Honey, listen to me, this is the first condition. If you don't agree--"

"Okay!" Arrietty raised her head, put the sewing needle back on her waist, and took a deep breath as if she had made up her mind: "Anything else?"

"Second, and lastly, I will 'destroy' the plant."

Pod tested cautiously, and sure enough, when he mentioned the word "destroy", his daughter's round eyes widened even wider.

"You can't do this, Father!"

Pod shrugged his shoulders. He had wanted to do this for a long time.

If he wasn't afraid that his daughter would really prick herself with the sewing needle at her waist, he couldn't stand Arrietty mumbling around that piece of junk every day.

"Of course I can.

If you lose this bet, I don't want you to spend the rest of your life dealing with that.

The loser has to obey the terms, right?

Get married and have kids—maybe five or six?

That is the luck of the little people.

You see, when the child grows up, won't you naturally become the 'queen' of the little people?"

"Since you like the word 'queen' so much."

Pod's teasing made his wife beside him twist the fat around his waist hard, and the man's face wrinkled instantly.

The girl glanced at her mother's actions, ignored the two people who were showing off, and thought about what her father said.

If what I saw today is correct, it must be open.

Wanna bet? Suppose I'm wrong...

No.

It’s been ten years, I’m going to grab this opportunity!

Arrietty slapped the guard of Needle, stood up, and tied her belt tightly.

"No problem! I promise! But if I win--"

Homily looked at her ambitious daughter with pity: You can't win, dear.

That pot of plant has been withered since the day your grandfather took it out.

Nothing in this world can be brought back to life.

Even though the girl who rented here was so pretty that she didn't look like a human being...

But, the dwarfs are the dwarfs.

There was no queen, and Homily believed in no prophecies.

Destroy the universe? Planeswalkers?

Why don't you say you are a god?

Chapter 9 The Queen and the Knight

There was nothing special about the 1920s.

During afternoon tea time, everyone was busy socializing.

Or, you can lazily lean on the lounge chair on the balcony, drink tea, eat cookies, and watch the elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen chatting and laughing as they pass by downstairs.

Arrietty was dressed in a fiery red dress, and on her feet were brown boots that her father had made from the fingertips of his kid gloves, boots that she had always been reluctant to wear.

After all, they could only borrow one if the house was occupied and it happened to be winter.

However, today was different. Today was the first day she met the Queen.