Charles still wasn't sure what he should do in this situation. Asla wanted to show her appreciation for his and Maxine's assistance and he could only imagine what it could be. There was something that he was worried about, but he thought that it could be something else entirely. Since they were from different cultures, she could attempt to do something that was unexpected.

Both Jinshu and Taiyun were present and watching what was taking place. This also made Charles feel nervous, but he wasn't scared. In recent times, he always seemed to feel more on edge when Maxine wasn't around. When he was with her, he knew that he would have someone to protect him, without her, not only was he without his friend but also someone who could stop anyone from causing him harm.

Charles felt Asla place her hand on his shoulder as he thought that his first thoughts were going to happen. He wanted to move away but he knew that he couldn't. All he could do was hope for the best and he did wonder what would happen if Maxine realised what was happening. They weren't a romantic couple, but he thought that she wouldn't enjoy what was taking place.

Suddenly Asla stated something in her native language and then it was repeated by the two men who were still standing there. Her hand was then removed from his shoulder, and he looked at her with some confusion on his face. He wasn't attempting to be rude but what had taken place was confusing him.

"Forgive my ignorance but what did you just do?" asked Charles as he looked at the foreign woman. A part of him expected Maxine to come through the door at any moment, although he didn't think she had a reason to.

"That is what is considered in my culture to be a Cisentce," replied Asla. Her voice was calm and collective which did put him at ease. "My apologies but it has no translation into your tongue. It is one way of how one shows appreciation to someone else for their actions. I realise that it might seem unusual to you, but I still wanted to show you anyway."

"Ah I see, very interesting. It is always interesting to learn more about different cultures. I thank you for this demonstration and your appreciation."

The pair continued to talk for a few minutes and Charles felt more at ease with the situation. However, he did eventually make his way back to his room. Already, he had been longer than he had expected, and he knocked on the door before entering. He heard Maxine's voice tell him that he could come in and he could see her sitting on the bed and was trying to read the pages that he had written down earlier.

The very large woman was still trying to make sense of the letters and actually making out the words was impossible for her at that moment in time. To Charles it was a demonstration that she was genuinely trying to learn and that she was taking what he was teaching very seriously.

For many years, Maxine had seen something like reading to be pointless. Rather she wanted to learn how to swing her sword and learn how to work around a farm. It was only after she had met Charles did, she think that reading was a skill worth earning. However, when he entered the room, she quickly turned to him and placed the book down.

In her hands it had looked very small but now that her companion was back, she thought that her practice should come to an end, and she couldn't help but smile at him. Smiling was something that she didn't do all that often, but she felt that he was someone worth smiling for.

"Ah you're back," said Maxine as she continued to sit there. Standing up was something that was impossible for her to do as her head would strike the ceiling. "How were our foreign friends?"

"They were fine," replied Charles. "Asla just told me a little more about their culture. Makes me wonder what would happen if we were in their country right now. I guess we would stick out like a sore thumb."

"I stick out anywhere I go." She gave a sigh about this as she continued to look towards him. "But that's really to be expected if you ask me. I've also been trying to read these letters that you've been teaching me." She then pointed to a particular letter. "This one is an S, right?"

"Let me take a look." He got closer to the seated giantess and looked at the letter that she was pointing to. He had been hoping that it was the letter S but instead the letter R. "Close that's an R, but you're only one letter off where an S would be so at least you weren't too far off."

"Oh." There was a sigh of disappointment that escaped her lips as she thought that she had gotten it right. But his words had been reassuring that she hadn't completely failed. "Guess there's still a lot for me to learn."

"Don't worry about it, you're making great progress. Before you know it, you'll be able to read an entire novel."

This did make Maxine smile as she liked the thought that she was making progress. Reading might not have been something that she had expected but it was definitely a skill that she would thoroughly enjoy possessing.

After a short time, it became too late to do activities such as reading as fatigue got the better of them. However, when it came into getting into the bed, Maxine ran into some unexpected complications. The obvious one was that her body was simply too big to fit into the bed properly.

When she lay down in the bed, her legs were over the edge and her feet were planted down on the ground. Although the bed was practically a double size bed, thanks to her large muscular frame, she took up almost the entire space within. This didn't leave much room for Charles who thought that he was going to have to sleep on the ground again.

This wasn't the case as he had expected as he found himself lying in the bed with Maxine holding onto him. Already, the large woman had fallen asleep, but she had made sure that her companion was somewhere that was comfortable. Now all she had to look forward to for the rest of the night was dreaming about pies.

For Charles, it was actually quite nice for him. At no point did he attempt to escape from her hold as even while she was asleep, her grip was too strong to break. He could feel the warmth and softness of her skin and it almost seemed impossible for a woman with such a muscular frame.

If anything, this only gave him a sense of safety as he felt that whenever he was with her, he had nothing to fear. If anything attempted to harm him, he thought that she would be there to protect him, no matter what. Already, she was the strongest person that he had ever met, that was if he didn't include Maxine's sisters. But he wouldn't be free until she woke up and let him go.

Eventually morning did come, and Charles was the first of the pair to wake up. However, he still found himself in Maxine's arms and she was still fast asleep. When he looked up to her face, he couldn't help but think that she was smiling. He did move a little in order to try and wake her up gently, but it didn't seem to work.

If anything, the muscular giantess only seemed to increase her grip around him, and she moaned for a moment. It was as if she was enjoying what was happening and refused to wake up. This was slightly annoying for him as he needed to relieve himself and needed to be free from her iron like grip.

"Maxine," said Charles with a soft tone in his voice. His plan was to wake her up slowly so that she wouldn't be too shocked and disorientated. "It's time to wake up now." He saw her head move slightly upon hearing this.

"Five more minutes," replied Maxine. She was still half asleep as she didn't open her eyes and continued to hold onto Charles. Thanks to their size difference, even in bed his head had been leaning on her chest.

"Come on now, you're wasting the morning. Plus, I'm pretty sure that I can get you some kind of pie for breakfast."

"Hmm, I like pie." She was still half asleep but finally she did release her grip on Charles which allowed him to roll out of bed. As he got up to his feet, he could see the muscular giantess still lying there. However, her arms were more spread out than anything else and he watched as she sat up. She was only wearing her undergarments so her muscular body was on show. "Make sure that you get a few." She yawned for several moments, it was a long and drawn-out yawn which caused him to yawn as well. "I'm feeling really hungry this morning." She did stretch her arms and the length and muscle tone was obvious for Charles to see from where he was standing.

"As you wish."

Charles did quickly throw on some clothes as he went to retrieve the pies that Maxine had asked for. He thought that he might regret telling her that he would pick some up for her. If he returned empty handed, he didn't think that she was going to be too happy. Plus, he knew that he was going to need a fair amount to satisfy her. Probably more money than he was willing to spend.

Shortly after stepping out of the room, he saw the door that led to where Asla and her companions had been sleeping. He did consider going inside and saying good morning to them. Quietly he stepped towards the door and went to knock it, but he began to hear voices on the other side.

The voices were fairly aggressive as if the people inside were arguing. This did peak Charles's curiosity and he wanted to listen so that he could understand what the argument was about. Unfortunately for him, they were speaking in their native language. Asla had told him a few random words, but he had no chance of understanding exactly what was being spoken between them.

To him, he couldn't help but feel slightly suspicious. However, there wasn't much he could do in this situation but it did make him think that everything was not completely rosy between Asla and her companions. He wondered if he should ask later or simply ignore it and leave it be.

Several minutes later, Charles did return to the room with almost too many pieces for him to carry. He didn't know what flavours they were, but he did make sure that there was no onion inside. As far as he was concerned, it didn't matter since Maxine would be satisfied with whatever she had.

Charles also tried to hear whether the argument was still taking place in Asla's room. As he listened, the voices had become calmer but they were still speaking in their native language so he still couldn't understand them. This did get him thinking but he still went back to his own room so that he could give the pies to Maxine.

The muscular giantess was now wearing her normal clothing that she would wear underneath her armour. She was still sitting on her bed and was very happy to see the pies that her friend was carrying. Her stomach growled loudly with anticipation as she was more than looking forward to eating them.

"Ah you're back Charles," said Maxine. For the time being, she hadn't attempted to put on her armour which was sitting in the corner of the room. "I see that you got all the pies that I wanted."

"Y-Yes," replied Charles. What had been Asla's room was still in his mind, but he still did step towards the woman that he now considered to be his best friend. "I don't know what flavours they are, but I thought that you'd enjoy them nonetheless. Guessing the flavours is going to be a treat for you."

"It is always fun." There was another growl from her stomach as it was clear that she was starving.

Due to this, Charles didn't waste any time in placing the pies in front of the muscular giantess. One by one, Maxine picked up each pie and ate them. Each bite she needed a moment as she simply sat there and smiled as she was truly enjoying what she was eating. It was something that others who saw her would be surprised to see. They saw her as some kind of towering monster who had a heart of ice. Seeing her acting like this would allow them to see a softer side to her.

Charles simply stood there and watched as each pie was being devoured by his friend. There was too much there for a normal person to eat but she was putting them away as if she hadn't been fed for a week. Watching her eating huge amounts of food was becoming a regular occurrence and yet he wasn't too surprised.

Maxine's large stature and muscles meant that she needed to eat much more than a regular person in order to maintain herself. He wasn't sure what flavours the pies were, but it was obvious that she was enjoying herself and she continued to smile and there was even a moment where it seemed as if she was blushing.

Within a few minutes all the pies were gone, and Maxine sat on the bed and patted her stomach. She could feel the muscles that were underneath, and she still had the smile on her face. There wasn't even a crumb of the pies remaining and even Charles was surprised to see how much she had eaten. He thought that it might have been a little much for her but instead she had devoured the entire lot.

"That was lovely," said Maxine as she still continued to blush slightly. "The perfect breakfast to get me up and ready for the day."

"I think you just ate enough to feed a man for an entire week," replied Charles. He knew that he was exaggerating but he wasn't too far from the truth. "I don't know where you even put it all."

"Well, the women are the Martel family aren't just known for their great sizes but also their bottomless stomachs. You were there when we had dinner, we can probably eat enough to feed a small village."

"I don't doubt that, but I might see if our companions need any food before we go. I was thinking about getting them something earlier, but your food was a little much for me to carry."

"Sorry about that, maybe I should come with you and help." With that, she began to get up to her feet but stopped herself just before she stood to her full height. She was still too tall to stand up in the room properly and she did loom over her friend.

"As you wish but you needn't worry yourself. If I were you, I'd let your breakfast go down before doing anything? The last thing we need is for you to feel sick."

"Ok fine." In the past, Charles thought that she would have ignored his advice and done what she had wanted. The fact that she was taking his advice and planned to act on it like this showed a change in her since their first meeting. "But if you need my help, you'll know where I'll be."

Charles simply nodded at Maxine as he made his way outside of the room. Once again, he made his way to the room that was occupied with Asla and her companions. Before he knocked on the door, he made sure to listen to see if the argument was still ongoing. He could hear the voices speaking in a foreign language, but they seemed calmer than they had been before.

This still made him cautious as he wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but he was still unsure what had happened. He did find himself knocking the door to the room and waited to see who would answer. He could hear the voices suddenly stop and footsteps approaching the door.

When the door did open, Charles had been hoping to see Asla but instead it was Jinshu who somewhat glared at him as if he was some kind of intruder. This did make him nervous, but he didn't fear for his wellbeing. He remembered that they were paying him and Maxine for safe passage so harming him would be counterproductive.

"My apologises, am I interrupting anything?" asked Charles who was attempting to be as polite as possible.

"No, what do you want?" replied Jinshu. His tone was somewhat annoyed, and it made Charles feel like he had made some kind of mistake.

"I was wondering if you, Asla or Taiyun wanted me to pick you up any food from downstairs."

"We're fine thank you very much. Asla wants us to leave in the next half an hour so can you relay that to the knight?" Charles knew that he was referring to Maxine, however she wasn't a knight yet and he didn't want to correct him on this.

"Very well, I will inform Ms Martel and have her ready to depart."

With that Charles did leave the room and step back into his own. He expected to see Maxine still sitting on her bed and letting the several pies that she had just eaten go down. Instead, he saw her doing push-ups on the ground. Her pace was very impressive given the size of her body, but he didn't expect anything less due to the size of her muscles.

After a few moments, she went from pushing up with both arms to only using her left. If anything, she was actually pushing up faster than she had been before and in a way, it was amazing to see. He still didn't think that it was the best thing that she should be doing after she had eaten such a large amount of food.

"Maxine what are you doing?" asked Charles as he looked down at the muscular giantess on the ground.

"I thought that I'd do some exercising before we started out," replied Maxine. Quickly she swapped arms as she began to push up with her right arm. "Do you mind giving me a hand? I could do with some extra weight so can you stand on my back please?"

"Actually, I think we better get ready to go. I've been informed that we're carrying on in half an hour so it's best that you get yourself ready."

"Ok fine." She gave a small sigh of disappointment. However, she continued her push-ups for a few more moments before she finally stopped. When she did, she stood back up and made sure that her head didn't hit the ceiling. "Mind helping me put my armour on? It's always easier when you assist me."

"As you wish."

For the next several minutes, Charles did as he was asked as he helped Maxine put her armour on. Several pieces of it were so heavy that he struggled to pick them up and it was still somewhat surprising that someone could actually walk around with it all on. Then again, she wasn't like any other people.

He thought that if she were to ever give up the pursuit of becoming a knight, she could sell off the armour and make a lot of money. The metal that it contained could probably make at least two or three armours for an average sized man. However, he thought that this was something that would be impossible.

If Charles had learned anything about Maxine, it was that when she was determined to do something, she would go to practically any lengths to achieve it. That was why he thought that she would never give up trying to become a knight, even after all the setbacks that she had endured. In a way, he found this admirable that she had set a goal and was trying her best to achieve it.

Before the pair were ready to leave, both of them had a drink of water. For Maxine, she was disappointed that it wasn't ale, but she had been trying to cut down on how much alcohol she had been drinking. As part of her attempts to improve herself she was drinking less but wasn't cutting it out entirely.

This was something that was more than acceptable for Charles. He knew that having alcohol completely cut out from her diet was something that was not only unreasonable, but he considered to be counterproductive. Maxine did enjoy having a drink, but he just didn't want her to drink in excess. By making sure she drank in moderation, she could still enjoy the taste of ale but not let it control her so to speak.

Before long, Maxine was completely covered in armour and every movement was causing a clanking sound as her plates of armour were striking one another. The only part of her body that wasn't armoured was her head and that was only because she wasn't wearing her helmet. To Charles, it did seem odd to see her without her armour, although he did see her unarmoured every day.

It seemed that the same was felt by the giantess who felt the familiar weight of her armour on her body. Not just that but she had sword by her side, and she was capable of wielding it at a moment's notice. Even though it was large enough that an average man would need to use two hands to effectively use it.

"There we go," said Maxine as she looked at herself. However, she could notice something on the armour that did spoil the moment slightly. "Do you have any of that polish left? I think I can see a mark."

"I can take a look at it the next time you take your armour off," replied Charles. Although they were seeing each other more as equals recently, he still had his duties to her and maintaining her armour was amongst them. "Do you want me to grab your helmet for you ma'am?"

"Charles!" Her voice was stern for a moment, and he thought that he might have made a serious error. However, he felt her arm come down onto his shoulder and she looked at him. Rather than being annoyed she gave him a smile. "You needn't call me ma'am anymore. I appreciate the gesture but you're my partner now, not my underling."

"T-Thank you Maxine." He did appreciate these words and he could definitely see a change in her from when they first met. Back then she would have commanded him to call her ma'am but now it was no longer necessary. Although technically speaking, he was still her squire, and it was best that he followed her words. However, this did give him a lot more say in matters than he had before.

"And yes, I would like my helmet thank you."

Charles nodded and picked up Maxine's helmet that was sitting close by. It was very large and if he were to try and put it on, not only would it cover his head but most likely his entire shoulders as well. It was hard to believe that anyone could have a head so big that such a helmet was necessary. Yet, when he was around someone like her, such things were more than believable.

As her helmet was passed up to her, Maxine gently took it off of Charles before placing it on her head. It was hard to see her face when she was wearing it and even harder to tell that she was a woman. One indication was that her long red hair flowed beneath the helmet, and she even had some consideration in cutting it slightly.

"Are we all set to leave now?" asked Maxine as she looked down at her squire. He looked back up to her and most would feel some intimidation about being in the presence of such a large and armoured being. He didn't feel any fear as he knew the woman behind the armour to well to be afraid.

"Well, we are set and our companions wish to leave as soon as possible," replied Charles. "It's best to not keep them waiting."

"Very well, you go and retrieve them while I wait for you outside. I prefer to be somewhere where I can stand up properly."

Charles nodded as both of them stepped out of the room. It was a little more difficult for Maxine to get through the door due to her height and her armour, but she was able to do so after a few moments. She then began to make her way out of the inn while he stepped over to the other door.

Quickly he knocked on said door and waited for it to open. This time it was Asla who opened the door, and she was genuinely happy to see him. If there was any argument that had taken place inside of the room, there wasn't any evidence of one taking place. Now he was just letting her, and her companions know that it was time to move on.

Before long, all five of them found themselves outside of the inn and waiting to move on. From the look of the sky, it was still relatively early in the morning and there were others who were starting their day. Even a few people inside of the inn looked on the group and found them to be odd. Not just for the giant woman but also for the man with darker skin than usual and the trio from a foreign land. They were definitely one of the most unusual groups in Angleland and they had one interesting journey ahead of them.