Everything was quite tense as Maxine continued to stand there in front of the Pickpocket. She was feeling a sense of both anger and frustration since that moment in time, all she wanted to do was to stop him. Although stealing out of someone's pocket might be a minor crime in the grand scheme of things. It could still have devastating effects on the victim in many ways.

As of yet, Charles and the others hadn't caught up with her and instead were some distance behind. For Charles himself, he was still trying to process what the small woman had said to him. Just a few moments earlier, she had admitted to him that she loved him. This was something that he thought that she would never say to him.

Especially with how they had first met and how she had more or less seen him as a nuisance. Now she said that she loved him, and this did make him think of something in particular. This was whether the fact that she was still shrinking had made her scared for her life.

Charles had heard about people who admitted to things when they were either on the verge of death or think that they were about to die. He thought that this might be the case for Maxine and because of this. Wanted to talk it out to her more before he could say his answer. It was still a lot for him to take in, but right now he wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to do anything that could get herself hurt.

Despite her lack of size, Maxine still stood her ground as she was confronting the Pickpocket. She could see that he was generally nervous, and this got her thinking that she had him at a disadvantage. However, she knew that she had to be cautious as well. When people found their backs against the wall. They might go to great lengths in order to prevent themselves from being captured.

"You know exactly what you did!" stated Maxine in a stern tone. She also hoped that this moment would also lead to some law enforcement getting involved. "I watched as you took something from that man's pocket and then walk away. I know your type; you think you can rob people and slip away without being noticed! But not today, today you're going to pay for the crimes that you've committed."

"I'm telling you; I've done nothing wrong," replied the Pickpocket. He was still trying to play innocent, but it was obvious that it wasn't working on Maxine. "Besides, don't you have better things to do than bother me?"

"Not when I see people stealing from others like that. Like it or not, I'm going to make sure that you pay for your crimes."

"And what are you going to do about it?" His aggression began to increase as he could see that he wasn't getting out of this situation without dealing with Maxine. To him, it was easy as she looked small and fragile. If she had been the powerhouse that she had been before, then he would have likely not felt so confident.

"I-I'll…" Maxine was trying to think about what she was going to do. However, at that moment in time, she was drawing a blank. If she were still her full size, then there would have been a lot of options for her. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case as she only had her small body to rely on. The problem was that she hadn't thought this through, instead she had acted on impulse and now, it seemed as though she was going to be paying the price. Even so, she still stood her ground.

"Maxine, Maxine!" stated Charles as he arrived on the scene. It had taken him longer than he would have liked to catch up. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure that this scum doesn't get away." Now that he was here, she knew that she had back-up which meant it was less likely that she would get hurt. But she still had to act as though she was in control. The moment that the Pickpocket realised that she couldn't stand by any of her threats, she knew that she would be done for. "I watched him steal money from an innocent bystander. That's something I simply cannot let slide."

"Then tell someone who can arrest him, not do it yourself." He was more concerned about her safety, and he felt that what she was doing was putting her at serious risk. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt. With her frail body, something that would be minor for most people would likely cause a huge amount of damage for her. "We'll find someone who can help."

"No, by the time we do, he would have gotten away." She took several steps closer towards the Pickpocket and there was determination in how she walked. If she had been her full size, she would have looked intimidating, but with her smaller stature. It was almost like a child who wanted to be taken seriously. Except Maxine wasn't a child but was a fully grown woman. "As long as I live, I'm going to make sure that he doesn't get away with what he's done."

Charles saw what she was doing but he couldn't help but think about the confession that she had made to him a short time earlier. He was still wrapping his head around the fact that she had told him that she loved him. In his mind, he was trying to think of why she would say that at that moment in time.

He couldn't help but admit to himself that during their time together that they had grown closer. No one had ever cared for him like she had, and he did feel a connection between them. But he always thought that it would simply be a mutual friendship after everything that they had been through together. Never did he think that it would develop into love and that it would be Maxine who would state it to him.

Another reason for why he thought that she would make the confession was because she was afraid of her current predicament. Although he wanted to say that he understood what she was going through, the truth is that he never could. Going from being a woman who was always the tallest person in a room by two feet at the very least, to now being only half that size and shrinking. He thought that such a thing was terrifying for her, and he understood that she was likely afraid.

That was why Charles thought that Maxine had told him that she loved him. Because she was afraid that if she didn't and her shrinking were to increase, that something would happen to her before she had the chance. She was also frustrated that he hadn't given her an answer to what she had said to him. There was a sense that he was rejecting her, and this hurt her more than any wound that a sword could have done to her.

Maxine herself continued to step towards the Pickpocket who was attempting to back away from her. He was looking at any route that he could escape since the last thing he wanted was to be caught by law enforcement.

So far, he had done very well when it came to keeping himself hidden while he performed his crimes. Although he had been caught a couple of times, his success rate was still much greater than most pickpockets. But if people truly began to notice what was happening here, he feared that there might be some vigilante justice. Pickpockets weren't particularly popular in Miralton and there was a chance that he could get lynched before he even knew what was happening.

The former giantess was still stepping forward with determination although she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do. Her options were limited, and she was trying to think about the best course of action. This was something that was lost on her for the time being, but she thought that she would be able to come up with an ideal solution. Although simply walking away wasn't an option.

However, there was one thing that she wasn't expecting. The Pickpocket placed his hand in his own pocket and grabbed a small handful of salt. This was something that he had just in case of situations like this where he found himself backed into a corner. It was clear to him that he wasn't going to get away without doing something that many would consider to be underhanded.

Before Maxine even knew what was happening. She saw the Pickpocket throw something towards her and it went straight into her eyes. The next thing she felt was an intense pain that originated from her eyes, and it caused her to turn around and cover them. She didn't know what had been thrown at her, all she knew was that it was extremely painful.

The Pickpocket took the opportunity to quickly turn around and run as fast as he could. There was still the threat of Charles and he still wanted to make sure that he wasn't caught. However, this was something that he didn't have to be too concerned about in the end since his main focus was on Maxine.

Rather than chasing after the criminal, the squire simply went down to the small woman as his main concern was with her. The truth was that he didn't care too much about the Pickpocket. Instead, all he was concerned about was the woman who was currently searing in pain and unable to see.

"Maxine are you alright?" asked Charles with concern in his voice. He went to place his hand on her shoulder. But he felt her knock it off immediately afterwards.

"Don't worry about me," replied Maxine with a stern tone in her voice. It was clear that she was still in pain although it was beginning to subside. "Just go and catch him before he gets away."

"He's already gone." The Pickpocket had disappeared within the sea of people that was in front of them. Attempting to catch him now was futile. "Let's get you somewhere where you can recover."

"No, we need to catch him! We need to…"

"What we need to do is get you somewhere safe. Come on, we need to get back to the others."

Having Maxine walk to where she needed to go was out of the question as she could still barely see anything. The truth was that her vision would recover in a short amount of time. But for now, she couldn't even see her hands in front of her face. Instead, she felt herself get lifted up and placed on his back.

She wanted to say something in protest about what was taking place but she found herself unable to. Instead, she just held on and allowed herself to be carried through the crowd of people who she couldn't see. None of them had noticed what was taking place and were really just going about their regular lives as they were enjoying the festival and not really paying too much attention to them.

One thing that Charles did notice was how light Maxine felt. He knew that with her smaller stature that she would weigh considerably less than he was used to. But this was still less than he could have imagined. As far as he was concerned, it was almost like he was carrying nothing at all.

Thankfully, it didn't take very long for Charles to be able to find Asla and the rest of her group. Although she had been advised to carry on, she had instead waited for the pair, and they were surprised to see him carrying Maxine on his back. Almost instantly, Asla became concerned as she stepped closer to them and wanted to offer whatever assistance that she could.

"What happened to Maxine?" asked Asla with concern in her voice. She feared that there was something seriously wrong with the small woman. "Is she alright?"

"I think so," replied Charles. "We had a run in with an unsavoury person and he threw something into her eyes." He looked towards Maxine, and he could see that she still had her eyes closed. "How are you doing?"

"I-I still can't see," answered Maxine. She was trying to open her eyes but still found herself unable to. Although she was able to open them slightly, this was an improvement over what she had been able to do before. She still felt frustrated over what had happened and the fact that she confessed her feelings to Charles and so far, he hadn't given her an answer to what she had said.

"Don't strain yourself. Just try and recover, alright."

Jaxin looked over to her and he thought that it was practically impossible that the small woman on Charles's back was the same that overpowered him with ease. When they had come into combat, although she had taken him by surprise. She would have been able to overpower him with ease and he would have been completely at her mercy. Now she was probably one of the weakest people that he had ever seen and was no physical threat to anyone.

Now that they were all back together, they began to make their way out of Miralton and back onto the road. This was still difficult due to the festival that was taking place. But thankfully, the further that they got from the town centre, the lighter that the crowds became. It was likely that there had been others from nearby towns and villages who had come to enjoy the Flower Festival. Massively swelling the people within Miralton for a short amount of time.

As they walked, Charles continued to carry Maxine as she was still blinded. However, slowly but surely, her eyesight was beginning to return. Although what she was seeing was hazy, she could now open her eyes and have no need to close them. Also, when she had been looking at things, it had originally been impossible for her to make out what they were. But now, she could see outlines and was another indication that her sight was returning to her. It was slow progress, but it was definitely taking place.

By the time that they had stepped out of Miralton, Maxine could see enough that she didn't need to be carried anymore. But she was still recovering her sight and so had to grab onto Charles's arm so that he could guide her as she walked. Being able to hold onto him like this did make her experience a warm feeling inside.

But amongst this was a sense of frustration. She had told him how she felt about him, and he had so far not given her an answer. She thought that by now, he would have said something about it. But instead, he hadn't spoken about the situation, it always seemed as if some kind of event would take place which would distract him. Despite this, she thought that he would have given her an answer by now and it made her begin to think that he didn't feel the same way as she did with him.

Thanks to the crowd and other shenanigans, it had taken the group a lot longer to leave Miralton than they had expected as they continued on their way. With every passing minute, Maxine's vision continued to return to her. Eventually, it got to the point where it had been completely restored and she could walk by herself. But there was something else that she was feeling as well.

Her body was becoming fatigued from the travelling and her clothes were feeling larger on her person. It was taking a lot of effort just to ensure that her shoes didn't slip off when she was walking. The bottom of her dress was continuing to drag on the ground and was becoming dirty from all the mud and dust that it was going through.

It didn't take long for Charles to notice that Maxine was becoming fatigued. She was struggling to keep up and he was beginning to think that selling their horse and cart might have been a mistake. Even if it hadn't been of much use to them.

"Maxine are you alright?" asked Charles with some worry in his voice. "If we need to, we can take a break."

"No," replied Maxine with a stern tone in her voice. "I'm fine, let's keep going until we…" Her sentence was cut off when she felt the strength in her legs fail and she began to fall. Thankfully, she didn't strike the ground as Charles was there to catch her.

"Maxine!" Quickly he looked over to Asla who was walking slightly in front of them with her companions. "Asla, we need to stop! Maxine is suffering from fatigue."

"I-I can make it." Her own stubbornness was preventing her from seeing that she was simply too weak.

Despite Maxine's protests, the group found a spot where they could rest and the small woman lay on the ground. In comparison to the others, she hadn't walked very far and yet she felt completely drained of her energy. Even if she were to rest for several hours, it was likely that she wouldn't recover enough to carry on. This was something that hadn't gone unnoticed by a couple of the others.

As was expected, Charles did stay close to Maxine as he gave her water and some food. This wasn't the first time that she had felt like this. Once, some years ago, she had helped her father on the farm during a heatwave. It involved a lot of heavy lifting and long hours with little rest. By the time that she had finished, she practically collapsed and was in a state like she was not too dissimilar to what she felt now. But that was after a long day of work in sweltering weather. Not after a relatively short walk on a pretty normal day.

"How is she doing?" asked Asla as she stepped towards Maxine and Charles. When she arrived, she knelt down to the fatigued woman and looked down at her. She could see that her eyes were open but she wasn't moving too much.

"I'm not exactly sure," replied Charles. "It's clear that as she gets shorter, her strength and energy are dwindling as well." This was making him think of something that was causing him great concern. He feared that if Maxine continued to shrink, then she would continue to lose strength and might even get to the point where it could kill her.

"Then what can we do?" There was concern in her voice as like him, she began to fear that something terrible might happen to Maxine.

"I don't know. The only way to I can think of is restoring her size. But right now, I have absolutely no idea how to do that. There is one thing that I know for sure. If she doesn't return to normal, I don't think she'll be able to help you to your destination. Even if it is close by, she'll likely be too weak to get there."

This didn't sound very good as far as Asla was concerned. Maxine getting weaker rather than just getting smaller made sense as well as be terrifying. It meant that there would be a point where she wouldn't even have the strength to go get up or perform any activities whatsoever. This made her realise how dire the small woman's situation actually was and made her worried about what they were going to do.

"I remember you mentioning that this wasn't the first time that she's been small like this," said Asla. "How did she grow back to normal before?"

"Back then, she had her size stolen from her. Believe me it's a long story and I'm not sure about a lot of the details myself. We were able to retrieve it after a lot of effort and place it back into her." He knew that would he said did sound insane but it was the truth. "This time it's different however, last time we had a clear goal on how to restore her. Now we don't have one."

"Oh I see." She was still worried as she had already lost a few people who had sacrificed themselves for her. It seemed that Maxine might have done the same since when push came to shove, she was only in this predicament because of Asla.

"This might sound stupid, but you wouldn't know any kind of technique or elixir that can make her normal again, do you?" He knew that he was firing an arrow in the dark at this point in time, but at this moment in time. He was more or less willing to try anything if it had a chance of helping his friend.

"If I knew, I would have suggested it sometime ago. I'm sorry, but there is truly nothing that I can do."

The hours continued to roll by as Maxine continued to lie on the ground and rest. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to do any good as she felt just as tired as she had done before she had begun resting. Her joints ached and it felt as though she had run a marathon. Even by now, she was beginning to become concerned as she realised that this wasn't normal in the slightest.

The first time that she had become her smaller self, she had fatigued fairly quickly but she was still able to recover her energy eventually. This time didn't seem to be the case and it made her begin to fear that she might not survive this trip. She was told that it had been a miracle that she had survived the poison that had been used on her. Now, it seemed that this wouldn't be the case as it was finally completing what it had been designed to do. Even if it took longer than expected.

Slowly her eyes began to close and she found the world around her going to dark. Normally she would try and keep them open but something inside of her was telling that all she needed to do was sleep. But this still didn't make things seem any better as Charles noticed what she was doing.

"Maxine!" shouted Charles as he grabbed onto her shoulders. His friend didn't respond as she simply continued to rest. "Open your eyes."

"I think she's fallen asleep," replied Asla. He could see that the small woman was still breathing and also moving around slightly.

"S-She is?" Quickly he looked at her carefully and he could see the same thing. "Oh thank the gods." He had assumed the worst and was more than glad to see that Maxine was still amongst the living.

"But that doesn't change the problem at hand. I fear that she's just going to continue to grow weaker. If we don't do something to stop it, then I think we might lose her. We'll do everything that we can but it might still not be enough."

This made Charles fall silent as he truly began to worry about Maxine's wellbeing. Almost the entire time that he had known her, he saw her as this invincible being who would be able to take on an army and not even scratch her armour. This was an exaggeration of course, even he knew this. But the point still stood within his mind. His friend was supposed to be a strong being who feared very little. Not this small woman who was becoming weaker and weaker over a short amount of time.

Also as he looked over to her, he could see that she looked peaceful, just like she was having a good rest. Not the fact that a relatively short walk had completely tired her out. This only made him even more fearful that Maxine might be slipping away from him and it also increased his guilt considerably. She had told him that she loved him and he hadn't had the courage to tell her how he felt. Now there was a possibility that she wouldn't get the opportunity to do so.