Only a short time later, the view of the town was gradually shrinking behind the group as they walked further away. Taiyun and Jaxin were at the front of the group with Asla walking behind them. In turn Charles walked behind her and Maxine walked behind him and kept her eye on him for the entire time.

To her, he was the only person that was important enough in this group to get her attention. Although many would consider him to be of the lowest birth out of the five of them. He wasn't royalty or the son of a knight. Instead, he was just a regular person who was simply trying to get through in life.

One thing that she did notice was that he was stepping closer to Asla. This made Maxine want to step forward and prevent him from doing so but decided to do nothing for the time being. She didn't see any direct danger from this although there still was the threat of an assassin attacking.

In the mind of the giantess, she remembered Jinshu and how he had been killed by a poisoned dart. If that had happened to Charles, there would have been nothing that she could do to stop him passing away. Even if she had killed the assassin in revenge, it wouldn't have changed the fact that he was killed.

Due to this, Maxine was nervous but still allowed Charles to step closer to Asla. However, she did constantly keep an eye on everything that was around them. Anything that was even remotely a threat would spur her into action. During this time, she even placed her hand on her sword as she was ready for whatever she did.

"Your highness," said Charles as he was close to where Asla was walking. They were relatively close to one another, and she turned her head towards him. A smile did appear on her face.

"Please call me Asla," replied Asla. The tone of her voice was pleasant, and it had a relaxing feeling towards him.

"Ok Asla, do you have a moment to talk?"

"Of course, I always have time for you." This did make Charles blush a little and her words were heard by Maxine. There was a slight grunt that could be heard but no one really reacted to it.

"Thank you. There were just a couple of things that I was wondering. When you leave Angleland, what do you plan on doing?"

"Well hopefully I can return home and rally those who are still loyal to my family. They can help me take what is rightfully mine and who knows. Maybe in a couple of years, you'll hear about my coronation."

"That I can hope for." He wanted to comment that he was confident that she would succeed. However, since he didn't know about the political climate of Asla's home country, he couldn't make assumptions. As far as he knew, she could either be guaranteed the thrown when she returned or instead be fighting an unwinnable battle.

"You can still come with me there. Out of everyone in this country, you've shown me the most kindness. When I return to the throne, I'm sure that I can find a place for you by my side. There can even be a place for Maxine. Someone like her would be practically invincible in my country."

"That is a very nice offer but I don't think we'd be able to. Besides, I doubt that Maxine would want to go anywhere that doesn't have pies." There was a slight chuckle from the armoured giantess as she could see that Charles knew her well. She also knew that if she did leave Angleland that she would never become the knight that she wanted to be.

"Hmm, it does seem to be something that she enjoys. Maybe when I ascend to the throne, I can introduce pies to my country. I think that they'll go over very well."

"I-I'm sure that it will." Charles couldn't help but have a silly thought about Maxine being some kind of pie ambassador. It would be a title that he knew that she would love dearly but there would be one problem if she were to deliver pies to other countries. That was that by the time that they got there that they would have been eaten.

"Wait," said Taiyun as his voice was fairly loud so that the others could hear him clearly. "There's something up ahead."

This got the attention of everyone there and they looked down towards the path that was just ahead of them. There, they could see what looked to be a cart just ahead of them. On either side were thick bushes and trees but that wasn't what they had noticed in particular. Instead, it was the fact that the cart had a broken wheel and the horse that had been pulling it had disappeared.

The group could also see that there was a woman who was at the cart and looked to be struggling. There were a couple of barrels that looked to have fallen onto the ground just behind it. From what they could see, it seemed that the cart had some kind of accident and that it was now stranded.

"Please can you assist me?" asked the Woman. She looked to fairly old, most likely in her fifties with fairly long hair and she looked as though she wasn't in the best of health. "I've been stranded here since last night and my horse decided to bolt. I need to deliver these wares as soon as possible. I promise that if you help me that I'll reward you for your time and effort."

"If you need our help then we'll be more than happy to assist," replied Asla. It was clear that she had sympathy towards the old woman. Her companions didn't seem to agree with her but since she was the one who was in charge as far as they were concerned. She was the one who ultimately made the decisions.

"Thank you good lady, I will forever remember your kindness."

"Think nothing of it, but I do question, what we're going to do. Fixing a broken wheel isn't exactly something that we can do."

By now, Charles had stepped towards Asla as he wanted to help her in this endeavour. Maxine for the moment stayed back as she couldn't help but be suspicious. It was in her nature to not entirely trust someone when she had first met them. However, in this situation, if anyone could help, it would be her.

Since they were bound to Asla, both Taiyun and Jaxin stepped forward to help with the efforts. The latter still couldn't believe that only a few days ago that he was hunting Asla down and intended to kill her. Now he was working alongside her and would hopefully become a lord once everything was said and done. Although he had been training to be an assassin almost his entire life, the thought of being a lord was enticing. He would be rich and people would fear him for different reasons. However, there was only one thing in the world that he truly feared.

"Maxine, can you come and give us a hand?" asked Charles as he looked towards the muscular giantess. He watched as she stepped forward and was fairly close to where he was standing. "Do you mind picking up those barrels please? We don't want anything to get damaged while we're helping."

"I can do if you wish," replied Maxine. She wanted to do everything that she could to help Charles and if this meant helping this woman, then she would do it without question. Even if she couldn't help but be a little suspicious of everything.

The giant woman stepped towards one of the barrels and went to pick it up. However, she soon discovered that it was much lighter than she expected and this caught her by surprise. She knew that she was strong, but she wouldn't be strong enough to not feel the weight of a full loaded barrel which was around three feet tall. The only logical explanation for why it was so light was pretty simple as far as she was concerned, the barrel in question was completely empty.

"Wait, this barrel is empty," said Maxine. She looked over to the older woman who was standing close by. "I thought that you said that you had to make a delivery into town. What are you delivering, air?"

"W-Well…" replied the Older Woman as she could see that things weren't going as she expected. Instead she whistled loudly. This did catch the others by surprise and quickly the woman slipped away into the bushes.

In her place, numerous men came climbing out of their hiding places and quickly blocked the path ahead of them. Each of them was armed with either a sword, dagger or crossbow and there were around eight of them. All eight of them were more or less dressed in rags and didn't look to be in the best of health.

Despite their appearance, Maxine still moved closer to Charles and made sure that she stood between him and this seeming group of bandits. As before, his protection was her sole intention and she drew her sword. As she glanced over to the others, she could see Taiyun and Jaxin stepping in front of Asla in order to protect her. It seemed that Taiyun was more used to doing something like this than Jaxin. The latter was still getting used being a protector rather than an assassin. He also remembered that if Asla were to pass away then his chances of a lordship would slip away instantly.

Although these bandits outnumbered group, they couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by Maxine as she was the largest person that they had ever seen. Also since she was wearing her helmet, they couldn't tell that she was a woman. Instead, they just saw someone who was large enough to more than easily take down any one of them. However, they thought that they had safety in numbers.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Maxine. Her sword was in her hand and she could feel Charles behind her. He was peering towards the bandits as if he was standing behind a wall made out of flesh and metal.

"It's simply really," replied one of the Bandits. Although he was nervous, he was still confident that they would get what they wanted. "You give us all of your valuables and we let you pass. Or we kill you and take them anyway."

"I'll gut you all like fish before you could even consider doing anything like that. Now back away before I start swinging." Suddenly she noticed a bolt from the crossbow get fired towards her. For a moment, she did feel worried but the bolt struck her armour and bounced off without causing her any harm.

This made Maxine see that her words weren't going to cut it and it was her actions that were going to convince them. Quickly, she grunted and then ran towards the group with the intention of attacking. Taiyun and Jaxin did consider fighting as well but for now remained close to Asla as they had to protect her. This was noticed by Charles but rather than seeing their actions as cowardice, he completely understood. He instead began to focus on the battle taking place just ahead of them.

As much as Charles wanted to help Maxine in her efforts, he knew better than to attempt to fight. Not just because his skills with a sword were not up to par yet, but he also thought that if he attempted to fight that he would only get in her way. He could only imagine how annoyed she would be if he tried to do this.

Despite being outnumbered, the armoured giantess seemed to be holding her own as she moved faster than any of the bandits could have expected for a woman of her size. She was able to swing her sword with some grace which almost seemed impossible for a weapon such as that.

Each bandit who weirded a sword had it knocked out of their hands whenever Maxine's sword struck it. The force was so great that they were sent flying several metres and then landed on the ground away from where it's occupant was standing. However, normally they wouldn't have a chance to pick their weapons up as she would likely strike them with either a powerful punch or a kick beforehand.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, she intended to keep the promise that she made to her mother and not kill any of her attackers. However, this didn't mean that she couldn't seriously harm them. Each strike caused the receiver to lose teeth or have some kind of bone shattered. All who were struck were more or less out of the fight immediately and for the moment, she seemed to be unstoppable.

No matter how much the crossbowman fired at her, the bolts would either miss or harmlessly bounce off of her armour. There were gaps within her armour where a crossbow bolt would cause a lot of damage. But unfortunately, she wasn't a slow moving target and with her ferocity of her attacks, none of them could focus long enough in order to get a good shot at her.

The only time when Taiyun and Jaxin acted was when any of the bandits came close to Asla. They used their own weapons which seemed almost alien to the people of Angleland. This included a slightly curved sword and Jaxin even went to use a spiked club like weapon which looked to be devastating.

Unlike Maxine, neither of them had any problems with killing their attacks. One of the bandits even received a strong blow to the head from the club like weapon and when he went down, it was clear that his wound was fatal. It was likely that he had died before he had even hit the ground.

In all of the chaos that was happening, no one was focusing on the older woman who had been the distraction for the group. She could quickly tell that things weren't going their way and she could see a couple of her companions dead on the ground. However, there was one thing that she noticed and this was Charles who was standing back away from the fight. Asla remained close to her own bodyguards and all of them failed to notice the older woman a short distance away.

Seizing her opportunity, she was able quickly get behind Charles. With a single motion she was able to grab onto him and then hold a knife right next to his neck. For the moment this hadn't been noticed by anyway but he found himself unable to speak thanks to everything that was taking place.

"Stop right there!" shouted the Older Woman. This quickly got the attention of everyone who quickly looked towards her. Maxine was the first to realise what was happening and her heart quickly began to sink. "Make one wrong move and I'll gut this coward like he's a stuffed pig."

"Leave him be!" stated Maxine with authority in her voice. It reminded Charles of the tone that she would taken when they first met. "Hurt him and I swear that I will break every bone in your body!"

"Do as I say or else!" Maxine knew that she couldn't step forward as she didn't want to risk Charles's life. The situation was angering her a great deal but not just because her squire had been taken hostage. But also since she had allowed it to happen, she had been so focused on the battle. She had failed to notice that he was about to be taken and she thought that he was going to die due to her carelessness. With some reluctance, the armoured giantess threw her sword to the ground. "Good, it seems that you're not just some giant idiot." Maxine clenched her fist as she wanted to strike the woman but couldn't risk doing anything while she still had a knife on Charles's head.

"I don't care what you want, just don't hurt him." Although she was angry, her worry is what won out and this was obvious due to the tone of her voice.

"That depends on your actions. Give us everything of value you have and let us go free. Then your friend here will be let go." She glanced over to Taiyun and Jaxin who was close by and looking directly at her. "And don't you dare try anything."

Maxine knew that she couldn't do anything in this situation. Despite her size and strength, she felt that she was completely powerless. It was both frustrating and saddening for her as she looked at Charles. She could see the worried look on his face as he could feel the cold sharp metal on his neck.

"Do as she says," stated Maxine. This time there was more authority in her voice. "We will not resist. I may not have much valuables on my person but my armour is worth a small fortune. Take that and my sword if need be." With that she took off her helmet and dropped it onto the ground.

"Ok and now for these gooks here," replied the Woman as she looked over to Taiyun and Jaxin. She didn't seem to care about the language that she had used to describe them. "What do they have?"

"I don't know." She then looked over to the two foreign men. "Just give her whatever you have."

The two men didn't speak and instead took out whatever valuables they had on their person. This included some gold, a couple of jewels and even weapons that they were carrying. The surviving bandits began to grab them and was even grabbing onto Maxine's armour as she was taking it off.

After a few moments, she was down to the clothing she wore beneath her armour and even her sword had been retrieved. It pained her to see these objects get taken but if it meant that Charles would be freed then she would do it a hundred times off if she needed to. These objects could be replaced, he couldn't.

Since the woman was so focused on Maxine and the surviving bandits were picking up all the valuables. None of them realised that Asla had actually been out of sight during this time. Carefully she was moving behind the older woman and thanks to her smaller size and her enemies having their focus elsewhere, she wasn't noticed.

Before anyone really knew it, she had gotten behind the older woman and had was able to brandish a small knife from her sleeve. Then with precision and mercilessness, she lunged the knife into the neck of the older woman. The suddenness of the attack caught her completely by surprise as she let go of Charles and screamed out in pain. She felt that she was being drowned by her own blood.

Her terrified gargles only lasted for a few moments before life simply slipped away from her as she fell to the ground with her fatal wound causing a pool of blood. The remaining bandits could only watch for several moments as none of them had expected this turn of events to take place.

One of them just happened to be in front of Maxine as he was just about to pick up her sword. However, since Charles was no longer a hostage, this bandit felt a swift kick to the side of his head and he fell unconscious almost immediately. He was lucky that his neck hadn't been snapped by her attack.

Rather than trying to retrieve her armour, Maxine instead quickly ran towards Charles and even called his name. He was still on his hands and knees as he was recovering from what had taken place. Before he knew it, he saw his friend on her knees and helping to pick him back up.

"Charles, Charles are you alright?" asked Maxine with great concern in her voice. As he looked up into her eyes, he almost thought that she was in tears. This was something that he had never seen from her at all.

"Y-Yes I'm fine," replied Charles. The truth was that he was uninjured but was still a little shook up about the situation. Before he could say another word, he felt her strong arms wrap around him and embrace him in a hug.

"Thank God, thank God." She held him tightly and for many who knew her, they would say that this was uncharacteristic of her. But at this moment she didn't care, all she cared about was that he was safe.

This hug seemed to be lasting a very long time and Maxine couldn't help but look a little in front of herself. There she saw Asla still standing there and despite what she had just done, she had a calm look on her face. It was clear that she didn't regret what had just happened and the muscular giantess nodded her head towards her.

"Thank you for saving him," said Maxine. She still held Charles tightly as she too was still recovering from the situation.

"I only did what any person in my position would. He is unharmed, as far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters."

"Your majesty," stated Taiyun with some anxiousness in his voice. "You shouldn't have put yourself at risk like that."

"And watch the only person in this land who has shown us true kindness to be killed? No, I cannot allow such a thing to happen. Never think that my actions were unnecessary!" There was a sternness in her voice that gave her social standings away. She might have been the smallest person there, but it was clear that she was the one who was in charge. At least within her trio.

"M-My apologises, I will never second guess you again." He gave her a small bow as a sign of respect. "The remaining thieves have fled, they dropped our weapons and Miss Martel's armour, but they have taken our gold."

"I see, not good but not bad." She looked and could see Maxine continuing to hug Charles. This was one side of her that the foreign princess hadn't seen before. In a way, it almost seemed comical to see someone who was as large and strong as Maxine was seemingly reduced to this bag of nerves that she was now. It didn't even seem that she registered that her sword and armour had been left behind. Instead, it was him that was most important to her was currently in her arms. "Collect everything that they left behind and then we keep going, we don't want to stay here for too long."

There were still a few minutes where Maxine continued to hug Charles tightly as she still feared for his safety. However, she did eventually break it off and pick up her armour that was scattered around. At first, she thought that some of it might have been taken but she was thankful to find each piece and with help from her squire, she was able to attach it back onto her body.

A part of her was glad that she hadn't lost any of her armour. As she said, it did cost a small fortune and it wasn't because the metal used was particularly valuable. It was strong but what made the armour so valuable was the sheer amount of metal that was used to forge it. Thanks to her size, the armour required enough metal to make two, maybe even three sets of armour for a person of average height.

Despite its value, she would have more than gladly given it up to ensure the safety of Charles. At that moment in time, Maxine had even considered giving up on her dream of becoming a knight. Just so that the man she called her friend was safe rather than being murdered right in front of her.