Asla and the others waited outside of the pawn shop while Maxine and Charles were inside. There were some people walking by them and a few of them did look over to them. It was odd seeing people of their racial background in a place like this. Even the clothing that they wore was strange to them.

These were the kind of stares that they had gotten used to since arriving in Angleland. In a way, it was something that they could understand. If a person from Angleland was in their country, they would probably receive the same kind of stares. Even so, it did make them feel uncomfortable, especially Asla. If people knew who she really was, it was likely that they would try and capture her. Since she was likely worth more than her weight in gold to the right people.

Taiyun and Jaxin was sure to stay close to her in order to protect her. They were ready to draw their weapons within a moment's notice. They in particular didn't trust the people of this town nor Angleland. The only people that they truly trusted was Maxine and Charles and right now, they were dealing with important business.

As the minutes went by, Asla couldn't help but look at the environment around her. Although her stay in this country hadn't been overly pleasant, a small part of her was going to miss it. Despite everything that had happened, it had provided her safety when she needed it the most. If she hadn't of fled to this country, she thought that right now she would be in chains or worse.

"H-Hey there sweet cheeks," said a Voice. This quickly caught the attention of Asla as she looked towards a man who was approaching her. There was a smile on his face, and he was staggering with every step that he took. It was clear to her that he had too much to drink and was most likely about to make a grand mistake. "Nice clothes that you have there, would look nice at the end of my bed." He began to laugh at this terrible pick-up line that he had just spoken.

However, Taiyun and Jaxin didn't see the funny side as they quickly stepped in front of Asla and were ready to draw out their weapons. They stopped themselves from doing so for the time being but if things were to continue on this path, then such a thing would be required,

"Step away now if you know what's good for you!" demanded Taiyun. He had his hand on his weapon and was ready to use it.

"Ok, ok I was only being friendly," replied the Drunk Man. He hiccupped before he could say another word. It was clear that it was the alcohol that he had consumed gave him the courage to be so forward. Even if it was likely leading him to more trouble than even, he could realise. "I'm just saying that your lady friend here is pretty cute."

"She appreciates that, now be on your way."

"Alright I'm going." With that, he turned around and went to walk away from the group. "Maybe I can go and…" Before he could finish his sentence, he felt the ground move from underneath him as he had tried to walk. It wasn't actually the ground moving but rather him losing his balance after all the alcohol that he had drunk.

The group could only watch as he fell and struck the ground with some force. There was a grunt from him as landed and there was some confusion from Asla and the others. They could clearly see what had happened, but it was another matter about what they had to do in this situation.

"Are you alright?" asked Asla who did show some concern towards him. She went to step towards him, but Taiyun placed his hand on her shoulder to ensure that she didn't step forward any further.

"Please, don't get any closer. It's not safe." He was mostly concerned about her wellbeing, if she were to die, then it was likely that there would be many who would likely perish because of it. He was also speaking in their native language so that those around him couldn't understand him.

"But I can't really stand here and do nothing." She too spoke in her native language as she looked up to him.

"This man is not worth your time. He is a drunk who is this way because of his own choosing. Whatever fate befalls him is what he deserves."

"But…" She wanted to protest, and she knew that if she were to command it, he would be forced to step aside so that she could do what she wanted. However, Asla wished not to do that, and she continued to look at the man with some sympathy. It was true that it was his own fault that he was like this, but she still wished to help.

Before she could say anything else, the group noticed Charles and Maxine walking towards them. This time, they weren't carrying the armour and sword that was so precious to the former giantess. Asla in particular looked at the short woman and kept thinking that she looked even shorter than she did when they spoke before. She knew that her friend was getting shorter, but she didn't think that the process was that quick.

It did seem like Maxine was struggling to walk somewhat in her shoes. It was like she was trying to prevent her shoe from coming off her feet. The bottom of her dress was practically dragging on the ground as she had clearly lost a couple of inches since she had first put it on a couple of days previous.

"Who's this?" asked Maxine as she looked down at the drunk man on the ground. He had barely moved since falling and she nudged him with her foot. There was a small reaction from him, a clear indication that he was alive. "Someone that you had to hurt?" She had thought that it was best not to get into confrontations while they were there, but she of all people knew that it was sometimes unavoidable.

"No, he's just someone who's drunk a little too much," answered Asla. Rather than speaking her own language, she spoke the same as the two people in front of her. "I think we should at least turn him onto his back."

"Right, whatever you want." Like Taiyun before her, it was clear that Maxine didn't care too much for this drunken man. But she did watch as Charles and Jaxin turned him onto his back. This was purely so that he could breathe better but it looked as though he wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

"So did you get any money," asked Taiyun as he hoped that they had gotten a good deal. It would benefit them all at that moment in time.

"Not enough if you ask me," replied Maxine who seemed slightly frustrated. She looked up to Charles and glared at him. "I told you that my sword and armour was worth a lot more than he paid for it."

"That might be true Maxine," answered Charles. He seemed more confident but he most likely wouldn't be if it was full size Maxine glaring back at him. "But just remember, the less he paid out, the less we have to pay in order to get it back."

"I know, I know…" She couldn't help but grunt in frustration as she felt a little empty without the two things that she thought defined who she was. It was out of desperation that she had agreed to give them up.

"And how long do you have to get it back?" asked Asla who was genuinely curious. If it was only a week, then they might have some problems.

"We've been given a month," answered Charles. "That should be more than enough time to get it back." There was one problem about all of this that was on his mind but he didn't want to say anything about it for the time being. This was if Maxine would have been restored to her true height by then. If not, then they would be in the same predicament that they had found themselves in before.

"I guess that's not too bad, do we have the money for us to stay in an inn for the night?" This was something that she did wonder as she felt that an inn was safer than sleeping out in the open.

"Indeed and probably enough to stay at any room that we want for weeks if we so chose to." He didn't think that it would come to this since the goal was only to spend the money when necessary. Like Maxine, he knew that they still needed to buy the armour back and so for now, wherever savings could be made, they would have to do so.

One thing in particular that was on Maxine's mind was something that the Pawnbroker had told them while they had been making the deal. He had told them if they missed repaying by just a single day, the armour would be sold off to a local blacksmith who would then likely melt it down as soon as possible. Because of this, it seemed as though her armour had only one month to exist unless the debt was repaid.

By this point of the day, it was beginning to get late and thus, the group did make their way to a nearby inn. Rather than hiring out two rooms, they bought only one so that they could save on money. Jaxin was annoyed by this as he argued that there were more than enough to hire two rooms for the night. In the end, it was Asla who had the final word on the matter and she sided with Charles on the matter.

The room that they were occupying only had two beds which were only large enough for one person to sleep in. It was quickly decided by the others that it was the women who would have access to the beds while the men would be forced to sleep on the floor. Not an ideal situation for themselves, but one that they could endure.

Thankfully, the staff at the inn did provide them with enough blankets for them but it still meant that they were likely to not have a comfortable slumber. But this was far from the only worries that the group had. Maxine in particular sat down on one of the beds and noticed just how large her shoes were on her feet.

It was true when they had purchased them, they were a little too large for her anyway. But now it looked as though they had gone up by another size or two but she knew that this wasn't the case. It wasn't the shoe that had grown bigger, it was her foot that had become smaller.

It was just her foot that had shrunk but also her entire body. So far, only Asla had noticed her decreasing height but she thought that it would only take a day or so for the others to catch on. She could imagine how panicked Charles would be and she would look at her hands every now and again.

To her, they looked like the hands of a stranger. Rather than the large and strong hands that she was used to seeing, now they looked small and weak. Almost like they had never seen a day of work in their lives. In her mind, she wanted nothing more than to be her large and powerful self again but there was another thought that happened to creep in there at the same time.

This thought was that maybe not becoming large again might be a good thing. If she remained at the size that she was, she would be below average height by many inches. But she would be able to live a normal life and be able to experience an existence much like most women in Angleland. It was likely that she would become a mother and raise a family without the worry of being a knight.

Such an existence had been unthinkable for her for a good long time but now she thought that it was a definite possibility. Nowadays, she was thinking that living a normal life might actually be what she desired the most. But there was another part of her that wanted to see through her goal to the end.

"Are you alright there Maxine?" asked Charles. This question did distract her from her thoughts as she looked up at him. It was still an odd sensation for her to be looking up at him but it was one that she thought that she would have to adjust to if her original size wasn't restored to her.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," replied Maxine. She was still a little confused for the moment as she snapped out of her thoughts and she felt him sit right next to her. "I was just thinking of a few things."

"I see, what were you thinking of?" He was genuinely curious but he didn't want to push things if she didn't want to talk.

"Just about what might happen if I don't become big again. Maybe I can live the life that many expect of me. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens to me. I know if I decide to quit trying to be a knight and become and settle down, my mother would be very happy. I know that she still worries about me and that she wants grandchildren."

"Do you want to settle down like that?"

"Maybe, but I wanted to do it later. After I had achieved everything that I wanted to do. But like this, it looks like the decision has been taken from me." She gave a sigh as she looked at her hands again. "Remember when I used to grab cups of ale? They looked like I was holding something that was made for a child. Now look at them, I doubt that I could even hold an ale right now."

"Well you can still become big again. Remember what happened last time? You thought that you were going to stay small forever, but then you became the towering woman that you were before.

"But then I had a clear way to regain what I lost, not this time though. Maybe this is some kind of divine intervention. It's like something that I did hear every now and again. Women weren't supposed to be as big as me, I doubt that anyone is supposed to. But if you don't mind, can I ask you one thing?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"You were teaching me how to read, would you mind continuing with that? I feel that I'll need it more than ever."

It seemed to Charles that Maxine was beginning to accept her fate. He wasn't sure whether to be glad to hear this or concerned. He knew how much becoming a knight truly meant to her and that by accepting defeat on the matter that she was giving up on something that was practically her entire goal in life. This made him feel a great wave of sympathy for her but he did as he was asked.

For close to an hour, Charles continued to teach Maxine how to read. He knew better than to attempt teach her larger words and so stuck to small words that were easy to spell and pronounce. She went through each word that he was trying to teach her and although some were more difficult than others, she seemed to be able to go through them.

One word that she did come across was the world 'tall'. This was something that she had heard many, many times over her life and it did give her a moment to pause and thing about a couple of things. Such as the fact that she would likely to never be tall again. That was if things continued as they were.

Eventually Maxine asked Charles to write down the word 'sword' but she couldn't read it. She tried to use the technique that she had been taught to try and read the word but found herself unable to. The word was something that she had heard many times but seeing how it was spelt was odd.

"Wait this is how you spell sword?" asked Maxine as she continued to look at the word with some confusion.

"Yeah," replied Charles. He could see why the former giantess was struggling with the word and it seemed that there would be some explanation needed. Although this would go into more advanced reading. "Some words have silent letters."

"Silent letters? What's the point in that? It's like whoever invented the words simply wanted to make them more complicated for the sake of it. There's a reason why the majority of people can't read." She sat there and crossed her arms and seemed to be somewhat annoyed with what she was seeing.

"I know, but that's just the way things are unfortunately. But I think that'll be all for one day, I don't want to overload you with all of this."

"Fine." She did give a sigh as she was disappointed that the lesson was over but she could see where he was coming from. The concept of something like silent letters were a lot for her to get her head around. "Thank you for helping me."

"You're welcome Maxine, you're progressing very well. You should be able to read before long." This was news that the former giantess did like to hear but she had hoped that she could rely on her size in the future. But this was a back-up for her and would still be a skill that was well worth learning.

"That's great to hear." She looked up to him and she could see that she was sitting very close to him. More than anything she wanted to tell him about how she felt about him but there was something inside of her that was preventing her from doing so. However, she was working up the courage to tell him , although it was more difficult than she could imagine. "Charles, there's something I want to say."

"Oh what's that?" He looked back towards her and awaited to hear what she was going to say.

"Charles, I…" However when she went to say what was on her mind, it was like her tongue was suddenly tied in knots. No matter what she did, she couldn't say the words that she wanted and instead she could only blush. In the end, she could only say something that seemed generic and divorce herself from the situation. "I just want to thank you again for the lesson."

"Err… you're welcome."

Charles was confused for several moments and he watched as Maxine stood up from the bed. The embarrassment that she could feel was great and she tried to hide her face that by this point in time had turned bright red. Her immediate thought was that she needed to get away. But she still needed an excuse to do so in order to make leave without upsetting him. Because of this, she made the excuse that she needed to relieve herself and so quickly got up and walked away.

Once again, her shoe slipped off of her foot while she walked away but rather than stopping to retrieve it, she simply kept walking. The bottom of her dress was also beginning to drag across the floor by this point in time and so far, Charles hadn't noticed this fact yet. However, this was a clear sign that Maxine was still getting shorter.

Eventually the short woman did find herself in the restroom of the inn but rather than relieving herself, she was trying to overcome her own embarrassment. This was something that she rarely felt when she had been her larger form and she looked at her hands for several moments.

Maxine couldn't help but think that her personality was changing due to her shorter stature. She feared that the aggression and drive that she once possessed was starting to fade away and that she would truly become a regular woman eventually. That was if she stopped shrinking.

Although she couldn't measure herself, she knew that she had lost another inch or two since she had told Asla about her situation and she wondered how long it would take for the others to notice. Charles in particular was on her mind as she thought that he would begin to panic about her condition.

Not only was she thinking about her steadily decreasing height but she was also ashamed of herself for leaving in the way that she did. But to her, never had saying three simple words been so difficult for her. In the past, she had fought many opponents at the same time and had even taken down a wolf. During those times, she wasn't fearful in the slightest, but telling Charles how she truly felt about him was another matter entirely.

Suddenly Maxine heard a knocking at the door and she couldn't help but gasp in surprise. Something that she thought wouldn't have happened if she was still large and immediately she thought that on the other side of the door that there was a threat. But still she kept her composure and finished up.

"Sorry, I'll be done in a moment," said Maxine to the person that she couldn't see. Quickly she stood up from where she was sitting and when her barefoot touched the cold floor, she truly realised that her shoe had dropped off earlier.

"Then hurry up!" replied a Male voice who didn't seem to be too thrilled. "You're not the only one who needs to use the toilet!"

Maxine mostly ignored what she was hearing and simply opened the door and stepped out. More or less as soon as she was, she was pushed aside by a man and she found her back striking the wall. This caused her some pain but it was clear that the perpetrator didn't care about that.

He was a fairly large man and he needed to relieve himself as soon as he could. Pushing this small woman to one side was something that was very easy for him and also quite careless. The impact of Maxine's back striking the wall did cause her some pain and she feared that it was going to leave a bruise of some kind.

This only reminded her further that she wasn't the powerhouse that she had once been. Back then, no one would have been able to do that to her, but now she felt as though she was everyone's punching bag. This only made her feel worse about the situation that she was in and that there was no clear answer to her problems.

With some pain in her back, Maxine did make her way back up to the room and tried to hide the agony that she was in. The shove and the impact on the wall hadn't been all that strong but it still seemed enough to cause her an injured and the last thing that she wanted was to let Charles know about this.

She knew that he worried about her already due to her smaller size, but this would likely cause him to panic. In her mind, it should be her worrying about him, rather than the other way around. Although she didn't think that he would do anything as foolish as trying to track her attacker down.

For the time being, all that Maxine could do was make her way back to the room and feel the pain in her back. This was something that she hadn't really felt before, this was being overpowered by someone else who wasn't a part of her family. It was an unusual feeling and it was one more reason why she wanted to be large once more.