Eventually Maxine did make her way back up to the room that she was sharing with Charles and the others. Her back was still in some pain after being pushed against the wall. If she had been her larger self, not only would the perpetrator not have been able to do such a thing. But she would also have some manner of revenge on him.

Right now, this was all wishful thinking as she lacked the size or strength to do anything like that. Instead, she was left to just make her way back up to the room and she could feel the bottom of her dress beginning to drag onto the ground. A clear indication to her that the dress was too large for her decreasing body. Even the sleeves were beginning to look a little long on her.

It was insane for her to think that this dress was the smallest adult dress that she had been able to get a hold of. Anything below this and she would be having to use clothing that was designed for children. This was something that she put in the back of her mind for now as she simply continued on with her trek.

After a short while, Maxine did arrive at the room, and she could see Asla and her companions sitting together and eating some food that they had been able to purchase. Charles was still on one of the beds and was writing something in his book. It was likely he was writing down financial figures since they had just received a large amount of money and had also spent it.

Maxine was happy to see him, and she stepped forward but as she did, her second shoe slipped off of her feet. This was something that only she noticed and because of this, she quickly knocked it to one side and made her way towards where her squire was sitting. Unfortunately, she couldn't help but grunt in pain as she felt a small surge in her back, and she sat down on the bed not too far from where he was sitting.

For the first few moments, Charles didn't respond to her as he was quickly finishing writing down on the page. He then closed the book and looked towards her, and she couldn't help but blush upon seeing him. It almost seemed silly to her for doing such a thing since she had been with him for a long time. She wanted to believe that her giddiness right now was because she was smaller, but that might not have been the case.

"Hi there Maxine, did you find the toilet?" asked Charles. He had noticed that she had been gone for a while and had been somewhat worried.

"Y-Yes I did thank you," replied Maxine. She seemed fairly cautious with her words, as if she was facing some kind of great danger. "I'm sorry if I worried you."

"Don't worry about it, I was just figuring something out though. If we keep going at the rate that we are, we should be able to get Asla where she needs to be and pick your armour back up within a week."

"Thanks, but I can't help but think that it is a little pointless picking it up again if I'm still too small to wear it."

"Well, if we were to pick it up, then you won't have to worry about it being melted down. That's something at least."

"I guess so." She gave a sigh as she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed with everything that was happening. "At least last time when I was like this, I had a clear goal on how to get my size back. This time, I don't have that." She wanted to tell him that she was still shrinking smaller, but she still didn't want to worry him.

"Well, maybe something will present itself soon. Maybe there could be some kind of trigger. Your sisters all have the ability to control their size in some way, maybe this is something that you need to learn as well."

"Hmm, maybe." It was true that there were many things about her own body and the abilities that her family possessed that she didn't know about. There was always a chance that what Charles was saying was true, but she couldn't be sure. Due to all of this she couldn't help but feel worried.

"Anyway, we've had a long day. Best to get some sleep now so that we can be well rested for the morning."

"Y-Yeah I think you're right." She was still hiding the pain that she was feeling, and she hoped that she would recover by the morning.

It wasn't immediately when the pair went to bed, instead it took several minutes as everyone within the room prepared themselves first. As was agreed, the two single beds would go to Maxine and Asla while the men were forced to sleep on the ground. This was something that wasn't entirely comfortable, but they were used to it.

The beds themselves weren't very comfortable either as they were lumpy or it was possible that there were insects inside of them. However, it was still enough for them to sleep in and there was one aspect of the bed that Maxine did appreciate. This was the fact that she was able to fit inside properly.

If she had been her true size, it was likely that everything from the knees down would be hanging over the bed. It wasn't uncommon for her to be able to place her feet down on the ground over the far end. On occasion she had slept in a few longer beds, but these were few and far between.

The sleep that everyone experienced wasn't the most pleasant. It took them a while before they were actually able to sleep and when they woke up the next morning. Most of them ached, especially the men. The floor had not be an ideal place to sleep and although they had been given blankets, it hadn't done much to help them out.

One thing that they were thankful for was the fact that they hadn't had any unwelcomed guests arrive during the night. Either to kill them or simply to rob them. Although it seemed like a very long time ago now, Maxine could still remember not too long after she first took Charles as her squire. Someone had been able to get into their room while they slept and rob them of the money that they earned. Despite her annoyance, she was never able to find the person responsible. It was likely if she did, that they would be lacking hands.

Out of the group, it was Maxine who was the first to wake up as she felt the need to relieve herself peak. At first, she couldn't be bothered to get out of bed straight away but eventually the need became too much and she found herself getting out of bed and was about to make her way towards the toilet before she suddenly found herself falling to the ground.

It hadn't been as if her legs had given out on her, despite her own fatigue. Instead, what had happened was the fact that she had stepped onto the bottom of her dress and then tripped over. The impact hadn't caused her any serious damage and awoken any of her other companions.

However, she was more than shocked when she stood up from the floor. When Maxine looked at herself, the dress that she was wearing was oversized and it was clear that it was too large for her. The change had been even worse than she had first thought as she had lost several inches while she had been sleeping. It was likely that she was around four and a half feet tall, maybe even shorter.

Either way, the once mighty giantess was now roughly half the height that she had been before. It was also likely that Charles and the others would notice her loss in height as the change was now too great for her to simply brush off. It was likely that when they woke up that she had some explaining to do.

Until then Maxine did carefully make her way to the toilet and do what needed to be done. It all felt quite awkward for her as she couldn't help but think that everything around her was slightly larger than it was the previous night. Thanks to how large they felt, she hadn't bothered putting on any shoes and just walked barefoot. The ground beneath her feet felt cold and this sent a shiver through her body.

From what she could see, it was still quite early morning. The sun had risen but most people were still asleep in their beds. This was ideal for her for the time being as she didn't want to run into anyone. At her smaller size, she couldn't help but feel vulnerable and she was even a little intimidated.

One thing that she couldn't help but notice was that the door that she walked through as she was returning to the room was quite high. Despite this, if Maxine had been her full size, she would have had to bend down a considerable amount in order to get through. Now it seemed that there was absolutely no danger of her head striking the top of the doorframe. In fact, she feared that eventually, reaching a doorhandle would become a challenge for her. That would take a fair while of shrinking for that to happen but to her, it was a possibility that she couldn't simply discard.

As she re-entered the room, she could see that her companions were still asleep and this meant that she wouldn't need to start explaining just yet and she gave a small sigh of relief. However, she suddenly noticed someone standing behind her, from what she could tell. Whoever it was, they were larger than herself.

Quickly Maxine turned around and found herself having to look up at the person who was behind her. Their clothing looked to be quite strange but also recognisable to her as she craned her head up to see who it was. Rather than seeing a stranger, it was instead the foreign princess Asla standing there but now she looked taller than ever. She was almost head and shoulders taller than Maxine and it was as if she had grown during the night.

Both women knew that wasn't the case as it had been Maxine who had shrank. Asla was looking down at her and seemed to be in some level of shock. In the group, she was the only one who knew about Maxine's shrinking problem, but even she was taken aback by what she was witnessing.

When she had first met the former giantess, Asla didn't expect to see her losing this much height. It was like the Maxine that she had seen when their journey had started was a completely different person to the woman that she was looking at right now. It was a huge change and she didn't really know how to react to this.

"M-Maxine?" stated Asla as she looked at her friend. Her voice was quiet so that she couldn't be heard properly by the men who were still asleep. "Y-You've shrunk even smaller."

"Y-Yeah I know," replied Maxine with some nervousness in her voice. "I don't know what I'm going to do. If I keep shrinking at this rate, I'll be small enough to fit in your hand before we know it."

"I-I…" Asla wanted to tell Maxine exactly what she needed to do in order to regain her lost size but the truth was that she had no idea. This was a field of knowledge that was completely unknown to her and so she didn't know where to even start. A great wave of sympathy overtook her as she could see how scared the woman standing in front of her actually was. This was again completely different to the woman that she was before.

For the moment, all Maxine could do was sit back down onto the bed and this did hide somewhat that she had lost additional height. Unfortunately, it was only a temporary answer and wouldn't fix the larger problem. Instead, all it would mean was that she could elongate the lie for only a short amount of time.

Asla continued to look over to her and she still felt guilty about this. It was because of her that Maxine had been poisoned in the first place and was steadily losing height. No amount of money would be able to make up for what was taking place and she feared that someone else now would perish because of her.

Eventually, Charles did begin to wake up and he felt far from comfortable. Despite the fact that he had been asleep, his back was beginning to cause him some discomfort thanks to having to lie down on the ground. Slowly he did begin to sit up and he groaned for several moments as he still felt tired.

The first thing that he did was look over to Maxine and he could clearly see her still sitting on the bed where she had slept. This made him feel a little better as a part of him had been worried about her. Although he didn't know about her reducing height problem, he had been worried that someone would try and break into the room during the night. That hadn't happened and as far as he could see, his friend was fine.

"Good morning Maxine," said Charles. His voice was still quiet as he didn't want to wake up Taiyun or Jaxin. "Did you sleep well?"

"Y-Yeah, it was fine thank you," replied Maxine who wanted to see if she could bluff her way through things for as long as she could. "Are you alright?"

"As fine as I can be." He groaned for a moment and placed his hand on his back as it was still sore. "But I swear, the next place we stop at, we better make sure that it has enough beds for everyone."

"Hopefully we can. You know you could have shared a bed with me last night. It wasn't like I was taking up a lot of room." She couldn't help but blush as she thought about lying in bed with him. They had done this several times in the past, such as a couple of nights before but it was still something that seemed to excite her.

"It's alright Maxine. But anyway…" Charles staggered back up to his feet and he staggered for a moment as he was still somewhat fatigued. "I better get up and started, it's going to be another long day."

"Y-Yeah…"

Again, Maxine wanted to tell him about the fact that she was losing her height but still found herself unable to do so. It was as if all the courage that she had before faded away when she had lost her size. She knew that things would be easier if she simply told him, but she still couldn't. A part of her was ashamed of her own cowardice and she could imagine her larger self-berating her for such a thing.

It was only a short time later when Asla's two bodyguards also began to wake up as they too hadn't had the most comfortable sleep. Like Charles before them, they were somewhat aching backs after their slumber, and they were not all that impressed. It seemed as though the night that they had was less comfortable than when they had slept in the abandoned farmhouse the night before.

Still not wanting to stand up from her bed, Maxine still sat there and for now, no one but Asla knew the truth to why this was. Instead, the men just prepared for the day of travelling and protecting the foreign princess. None of them was aware of what was happening to the shrinking woman.

While preparations were being made, the small woman continued to sit on the bed, and she just watched as everyone else did what they were doing. Charles did bring over some breakfast for her which she somewhat difficult to eat. With everything that was happening to her, it had taken a dent against her appetite.

It was around an hour after everyone had gotten up before they were all ready to move out. Taiyun in particular wanted to keep moving as he knew that they weren't too far away from their destination. He felt that the sooner that they were able to take Asla there, the sooner that he knew that she was truly safe.

Eventually, the time came when Charles stepped towards Maxine who was still sitting on the bed. Like before, he still hadn't noticed the fact that she was shorter than she was the day before. But it was likely that he would if she were to stand up. Because of this, she was determined stay seated for as long as possible.

"Hey Maxine," said Charles as he approached the woman who had become his best friend. "Are you ready to keep going now? We're all packed up and ready to go." One thing that he made sure of was that the receipt from the pawn shop was coming along with them. He knew that without it, they wouldn't be able to buy back Maxine's armour when they returned with the money.

"Y-Yeah, just give me a minute," replied Maxine. Her heart was beating faster as she knew that she was only moments away from having the truth be exposed and she was still unsure about how he would react to this.

"Are you alright?" He could tell from the tone of her voice that there was something about her that wasn't quite right. The fact that she hadn't eaten all of her breakfast was something that he had noticed.

"I-I'm fine, why do you ask?" With every moment that went by, the more that she realised that he was going to find out what had happened.

"Well you've been sitting there the entire time I've been awake and you hardly ate your breakfast. I know that your appetite has decreased along with you, but it shouldn't have gone down by that much. If there's something wrong with you, you need to tell me." One thing that he did consider was that due to her smaller stature that she was more vulnerable to diseases. With what her body had been through recently, he didn't think that she would be able to survive a deadly disease.

"Charles I…" She stopped herself from speaking further as she still thought about whether she should tell him. A part of her wanted to continue to keep it hidden but the rational side of her won out as she knew that she wouldn't be able to hide it. Because of this, she gave a sigh and placed her feet firmly on the ground. Then with some hesitation, she slowly began to stand up and this wasn't unexpected to Charles. What did catch him by surprise was the fact that when she finished standing that her head was lower that he expected. Before, he sowre that it reached up to his shoulders, but now it was a few inches below.

"Maxine, a-are you shorter?" There was some disbelief in his voice as he couldn't believe what his eyes were witnessing. He knew that his good friend was short, but he didn't think that she would be as short as she was now.

"Yes." She gave another sigh as she knew that she had some further explaining to do. "I-I noticed the other day."

"But why didn't you say anything?" Panic was beginning to overtake him as he could see just how short his friend had become.

"I didn't want to worry you. You've been through enough so far, I didn't want to add anything else. Just please, try and remain calm."

"H-How can I stay calm?" The panic that he was feeling was only growing with every passing moment. His mind was trying to process what was taking place but at that moment in time, it was just coming up with a blank. "You're shrinking smaller and what are we going to do?"

It seemed that he was more worried about what was taking place than she did. However, he soon felt her hand come down onto his shoulder. It was smaller than the hand that he was used to and he looked down at the short woman standing before him. It was still hard to believe that a week earlier, she was nine feet tall and strong enough to lift a horse. Now she looked as though she couldn't even lift a cat.

"Charles calm down," said Maxine as she felt that she needed to repeat herself. "We'll get through this, I promise." Her words were trying to convince herself as much as it was trying to convince him.

"Ok, I'll try…" He began to take deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down. This did seem to work as he felt his heart rate beginning to slow down and he did begin to relax slightly. But it still didn't change the situation that they were in. The truth was that Maxine was getting smaller and he had no idea how he was going to be able to help her in such a situation.

"Better?"

"Y-Yeah, but what are we going to do? What if you don't stop and simply disappear?" Normally such a thing would be impossible to take place but given everything that was happening. He simply couldn't know for certainty.

"It won't go that far because I'm sure that it'll stop by then. Right now, we should concentrate on getting Asla to where she needs to be and then worry about me. When we get the money, we can go to wherever we need to go and fix myself. Maybe before then, I could even grow back to normal."

"Y-You actually want to continue?" To him, this was quite surprising as he thought that she would prefer to concentrate on finding a way to make herself normal again. He doubted that the former giantess was completely unworried about the situation. It was likely that she was more terrified than him, but she prioritising what she thought was more important. Even if it was placing her in potential danger.

"Yes, there's more riding on her getting back to her home than my problem. Plus the financial gains that we'll make will make it worth it."

"There's more to this than money. Maxine, you have to think about yourself right now. You're barely half the height that you were before and if you continue to shrink like this, it won't be long before there's nothing left of you."

"Let me worry about that. I might be smaller than you right now but you're still my squire. So that means that you need to do what I tell you. I'm telling you right here, right now that we help Asla first and then deal with my condition second, got it?" There was a firmness to her voice which clearly showed that she wasn't taking no for an answer when it came to the topic at hand.

Normally Maxine didn't like to pull rank on Charles but she felt as though she needed to. In order to make sure that things ran smoothly, she needed to make sure that he knew her stance on the situation. Even if it meant putting her wellbeing on the line, that was a risk that she was willing to take.

"Y-Yes ma'am," replied Charles. He knew that if he truly wanted, he could ignore and even overpower as she was like this. But he chose not to as he had too much respect for her and he thought that she knew what she was doing. Or at least he hoped that she did.

"Good, now let's move out. We're losing sunlight and the sooner we get Asla to where she needs to be, the better."

This was something that Charles couldn't help but agree with but he still thought that this was very dangerous. Maxine's decreasing size was something that concerned him a great deal as he didn't know exactly what he was going to do in order to help her. Although he could see her acting brave, he knew that deep down that she was actually terrified. However, she was doing her best in order to hide it but eventually the problem might become too great for her to put to one side.