Continued to step closer to the two terrified men. To them she was the devil incarnate who was there to take their souls to hell. Her face told it all as it had uncontrollable rage behind it, she was also walking at a slower pace than normal just to increase the fear that they were experiencing. They wanted to escape but with the towering woman blocking the only exit it seemed like their fates were sealed.

One of the men screamed and darted forward toward her in a last-ditch effort to stop her. This of course had no effect as a huge iron clad foot came into contact with his chest. It completely knocked the wind out of him. He went down to the ground in agony and as she continued to walk forward she stepped onto his ankle. There was a loud cracking sound as she intentionally broke the ankle. He then began to scream in agony but now her focus was entirely on the man ahead.

He had been the one who had led Charles just a few hours before. She didn't know that it was him but he still pinned himself against the wall. The next thing he felt was her huge hand grab him around the neck.

With very little effort Maxine lifted the man off his feet and into the air. He couldn't breathe as he was kicking his legs and gasping for air. She just glared at him for several moments as she was trying to decide what to do with him. The thoughts of her injured squire were fresh in her mind and she knew how easy it would be to simply snap his neck. He and the others were nothing more than common thieves and had likely done the same to others over the years. She thought that killing them would be justice.

However, these thoughts were counteracted by the words of her father. He had told her that killing an unarmed or surrendered opponent made her no better than they were. She took in everything he said and vowed that she would only kill when absolutely necessary, this wasn't the case as the man had dropped his knife and was now completely at her mercy. He continued to remain with his feet more than two feet above the ground.

"P-Please have mercy," said the Man. This was all he could say with his body continuing to be choked out.

"Mercy?" replied Maxine. "Mercy!" Her voice was almost like she was shouting and this only terrified him further. "Did you show my squire mercy when you robbed him, beat him within an inch of his life? Mercy is wasted on the likes of you, I should end your life right here, right now! I would be doing the world a favour by ridding it of scum like you!" She then let go and this caused him to fall to the ground. He landed on his backside and he was looking up at her. From his lower vantage point she looked even bigger than she did before. "Enjoy your last moments of being whole, take it as the only mercy that you'll find from me."

With that Maxine kicked him in the head, she was purposely careful to only knock him out and not actually kill him. All five men were unconscious but she wasn't done yet, she thought that they should still be punished, not just because of what happened to Charles but for the other victims that they very likely had.

One by one she chopped off the right hands of the men, this caused them to bleed somewhat but she was able to quickly cover them up with ripped parts of their clothing. She wanted to ensure that not only did they live but they would have a constant reminder that their actions have led to these consequences.

When the deed was done she simply threw the severed hands to one side so that the rats could have them. She began to walk out of the alleyway but she was sure to pick up Charles's pouch of gold on the way. She didn't know if all of the gold was accounted for but she knew that justice at least had been served.

With some care Maxine stepped out of the alleyway with blood on her armour and sword. None had reached her face but it was still a sight to see. Some people even saw her as she walked by and looked. She took no notice of them and simply kept on walking as if nothing had happened.

A few minutes later she found herself back inside of the room that she was sharing with Charles. The man himself was being treated by Maria who was bandaging up some of his wounds. She looked at the towering woman as she stepped in, it boggled her mind that Maxine was too tall to stand up inside of the room. This only made her think that her size was even more impossible.

"How is he?" asked Maxine. There was a slight hint of concern in her voice but she was still mainly the stern tone. This intimidated the much smaller woman but she knew that she wasn't in any danger.

"H-He should be fine," replied Maria. "His injuries will heal in time and there is no internal bleeding. He should make a full recovery before long." She then looked at Maxine's armour and could see the blood. "Are you hurt?"

"It's not my blood and its origin is none of your concern. Is there anything else that you need to do for him?"

"No, I've done what I can for now. I'll leave him a small amount of Tonsolan to help deal with the pain but for now all we can do is wait for his body to heal."

"Very well then." She took a bit of gold out from the pouch that she had been carrying. There wasn't much left after her time at the bathhouse/brothel but it would be enough to compensate Maria's efforts. "Thank you for helping my squire." She then placed the gold into Maria's seemingly tiny hand. The size different between them was close to being insane. "I very much appreciate it."

"Y-You're welcome. If you need my services again please visit our clinic."

"Do you need to escorted back?"

"No, I should be fine thank you." She then began to step toward the door. She looked at Maxine again and said goodbye to her before stepping out of the room and making her way back to the clinic.

With them now alone Maxine moved over to the bed that Charles was resting on. She knelt down to him and he slowly turned his head toward her. One of his eyes was bandaged up and he had some dressing on his cheek. It looked like he had been in the middle of a warzone but she was glad to know that he would be alright. She still felt bad for what had happened, it was something that she didn't want to have repeated.

"M-Ma'am," said Charles who seemed to be speaking with a slightly giddy tone of voice. She knew that it was the Tonsolan that was causing this. Not only was it dulling the pain but it was also making him go a little loopy.

"It's alright I'm here now. I'm sorry that I couldn't be while you were being treated. There was some business that needed to be taken care of."

"What did you hunt down and take out the people who robbed and attacked me?" This seemed to catch Maxine by surprise and her eyes widened.

"H-How do you know?"

"Well you were a little bit of time and your armour is all bloodied up. Don't worry, I'll clean it when I can."

"That won't be necessary, just rest as much as you can. I'll clean my own armour tonight, you just lie there and recover."

"I hope that you gave them hell ma'am."

"Don't worry, they won't be stealing from anyone else again."

Charles didn't say anything about this, from the amount of blood on her armour he thought that she had killed them. He wanted to feel sorry for them but he found himself unable to. Such a thing was beyond him at that moment in time as he was still nursing his injuries. He was just glad that she was back and that she had been able to bring his gold back to him. Now he didn't feel so bad.

As he lay there he remembered something that he had forgotten with all the excitement. He looked over to his bag that was a short distance away. Maxine was still kneeling by the bed but she made it seem like it was a normal person standing up. She saw his eyes wonder over in that direction.

"What is it?" asked Maxine.

"I-I bought something that I hope will help ma'am," replied Charles. "Please bring my bag over to me." He watched as the large woman carefully moved over to his bag and picked it up. She soon brought it back to him. He quickly began to go through it until he picked out the bottle of polish that he had bought earlier. He was thankful to see that the bottle hadn't been damaged during the attack.

"What's that?" She looked at the bottle that was in his hand.

"I-It's polish ma'am. It should make your armour shine as if it had just come out of the forgery. I was hoping to use it myself to clean up your armour but until I can you can use it if you want."

"You bought this for me?" She gently took the bottle out of his hand and looked at it. It looked quite small in her large hand but it seemed to be exactly what he said.

"O-of course." He coughed a little which did cause him a small amount of pain. "A knight should always look respectable." He then yawned for a moment. "My apologises ma'am but I really need to rest."

"Don't worry, take as long as you need." She placed the bottle down for a moment and even took off one of her armoured clothes. With her bare hand she placed it on his uninjured cheek. "You'll be no good to anyone injured."

"R-Right you are ma'am."

A few minutes later Charles did eventually drift off to sleep. Maxine watched over him for a short time and she was still annoyed that the attack had happened. She felt that she should have been there to protect him rather than bathing and having sex with three women at once. It didn't look very good on her as a knight and even though he had been tended to she still feared about long-term injuries.

As a way to try and quell her fears she took off her armour and began to clean it up. A task that she would give Charles but in his current condition it was impossible for him to do this. Instead she wiped off the blood as best as she could. She noticed that there was more there than she expected and she began to think that she might have gone a little overboard. She had maimed each one of Charles's attackers.

When Maxine looked over to her sleeping squire she knew that she had done the right thing. It was likely that the thieves had done this, numerous times before and would do it again given the chance. If they were to die she wouldn't shed a tear for them, to her they were scum and she was simply cleaning up the mess.

Within several minutes most of the blood was wiped off but there was still some redness left over. This was when she picked up the bottle of polish that had been bought by Charles. She looked at it for a few moments and then opened the top. The first thing that greeted her was the smell that made her feel a little sick. It took her a few seconds to get over it and she poured some of its contents onto a rag.

Carefully Maxine began to rub the rag over a patch of her armour that had been covered in blood. She put some effort into it and when she took the cloth away she could see that it was working better than she expected. The armour was coming out very shiny and she looked at the bottle of polish. What she was holding in her hand was the greatest cleaning product that she had ever seen in her opinion.

As the hours went by more and more of the armour was polished and it shone as if it was brand new. She seemed happy with this but fatigue was beginning to set in for her and she looked over to the bed. Charles was still fast asleep and originally, she had planned to be the only one sleeping there.

Instead Maxine began to make herself comfortable on the floor. It was annoying for her and it wasn't going to be the best sleep but she still went through with it anyway. She didn't want to wake her wounded squire and instead just slowly drifted off to sleep. She hoped that he would have recovered enough to travel the next morning.

Just as she finally drifted off to sleep the door to the room slowly opened. Whoever was opening it took great care in order to not cause any kind of sound. He was well hidden in the darkness and he crept inside with only one intent in his mind. Something that wasn't going to bold well for the pair.

The man could see better in the dark as his eyes had adjusted and he could see Maxine sleeping on the ground. At first, he thought that it was two people sleeping on the ground but as he took a better look he realised it was one very large person. This gave him second thoughts but he continued on nonetheless.

Quickly but quietly he began to go through the room as he was looking for anything valuable. He did notice Maxine's armour but when he went to pick it up he found it to be heavier than he expected. He thought that he might be able to sell it on for scrap but he did think that it was more trouble than it was worth.

However, when he looked under the bed he found exactly what he was looking for. He pulled out the bag that contained the gold that the pair had earned from William Bellamy's bounty. Even in the darkness he could see that there was plenty of gold inside, this made him grin for a few moments before he started to make his way out of the room with the bag in hand. Slowly he closed the door behind him and made his way out as if nothing had happened.

The hours flowed by and eventually the light of dawn woke up Maxine who sat up from where she was sleeping and yawned. Her back ached a little from sleeping on the floor but this was something that would likely fade away over the course of the day. She was just glad that it was morning and her stomach began to growl. She realised that it had been a while since she had last eaten and she was more than ready to have a few pies to go along with her breakfast.

Just as she was getting up she noticed that Charles to was beginning to wake up. He let out a loud yawn which would have likely woken her up regardless. He was moving around a little and although he was still in some pain it wasn't as bad as it was the night before. His wounds were still bandaged up and for the time being it was best that they stayed that way. He didn't want to cause an infection.

As Charles turned his head he saw Maxine sitting on the floor and putting her armour back on. It was difficult for her to do but she had been doing it for some time now so she knew what needed to be done. She looked over to Charles but didn't go over to him, instead she remained where she was and continued to look.

"Good morning ma'am," said Charles. He felt a little light headed after the Tonsolan that he had taken the night before. "Y-You're up early today."

"A knight gets up whenever he or she feels that it is right," replied Maxine. She put on one of her gauntlets and then moved her fingers. "How are you feeling today?"

"A-A little better thank you." He moved in the bed a little and sat up. He could still feel some pain around his rib area but it wasn't as bad as it had been the night before. Maria had done her job well.

"Will you be able to travel today?"

"I believe so although I don't think that I'll be able to go as fast as I used to." He chuckled a little although she didn't chuckle back.

"If you feel like you can we can go downstairs for some breakfast. I know that we're both hungry after what happened yesterday."

"Some food is in order, if you need any more gold I hid it under the bed."

Maxine nodded and moved toward the bed. When she was close enough she lowered herself and expected to see the bag of gold that they had earned the previous day. Much to her surprise she could see nothing. At first, she didn't panic or anything as she just continued to search but there was still nothing.

From his bed Charles didn't realise that anything was wrong at first until he saw Maxine's hurried movements. He began to see that something was wrong and he looked over at her as she continued to search under the bed.

"Charles you put it under this bed, right?" asked Maxine. She had lifted her head in order to look at him.

"Yes ma'am," replied Charles. "I put it there last night before I left."

"Get off of the bed."

"Ma'am?"

"You heard what I said." There was some anger in her voice as she spoke. She didn't like saying the same instruction twice.

Without question Charles got off of the bed and he was a little dizzy as he went to his feet. He couldn't fully recover however before he saw Maxine place her large hands on either side of the bed. Then without much effort she was able to pick it up and lift it into the air. This surprised him as he knew roughly how much a bed weighed and the fact that she had lifted it so easily.

Both of them looked at the space that the bed had occupied and although there were a few items underneath there was nothing that even resembled a bag of gold. This annoyed Maxine greatly and she looked over to Charles who couldn't help but be a little scared. He watched as she placed the bed down on the ground and then glared at him. He knew that he was in for a bad time.

"Where is it?" asked Maxine in a harsh tone. She started to move toward him and he backed up against the wall.

"It was right their ma'am," replied Charles. "I swear that's where I left it."

"It's not here now so where did it go?" She grabbed him by his shirt and almost lifted him off of his feet. "It would be unwise for you to steal from me, after everything I've done for you."

"No ma'am, I swear I didn't steal it." He was panicking as he thought that his life was about to come to an end. "I would never do such a thing like that to you, I have served you faithfully so far, please don't hurt me." He thought that she was about to punch him as she moved her arm. However, she punched the wall behind him causing it to crack around the impact area.

"Damn it!" She let go of him and he fell to the ground. He could see her clenching her fist and she looked down to the ground. "All that hard work for nothing!"

"I'm sorry ma'am."

"Right now, I don't want to hear your voice. From now on you only speak when you're spoken, understood?" She watched as her squire shook his head with fear.

He feared that she would be taking his mother's locket and just like they had agreed if he had failed her. For now, she said nothing about it and he didn't want to remind her. The last thing he wanted was for her to remember and take his most prized possession. He also thought that she already remembered and simply hadn't decided to keep it yet, he hoped that she wouldn't change her mind.

For the next several minutes both Maxine and Charles began to get their belongings together. They still had his share of their gold left which meant that they hadn't lost everything, just the vast majority of the gold that they earned. He could see the frustrated look on her face. She looked as though she would crush the skull of anyone who just looked at her the wrong way.

Maxine knew that Charles wasn't responsible for the loss of the gold, at first, she thought that it was Marie but she knew that it wasn't her. She would have noticed Marie carrying the gold when she had left the room earlier. Since there had been nothing then she figured that someone had snuck into the room while she was asleep and taken her well deserved earnings much to her frustration.

A part of her really wanted to try and track down the person responsible but she knew that it was a fool's errand. When she had found the gang responsible for stealing from and injuring Charles it had been through pure luck. This time she knew that whoever had stolen her gold was likely long gone. He was probably laughing as he spent her gold on whatever he wanted. This thought annoyed her greatly and she glanced down at Charles who was walking by her as they left the inn.

On more than one occasion Maxine considered striking him. This was to punish him and to vent her frustration. It was the teachings of her father that prevented her from doing this, a knight who mistreated their squire had no claim to call themselves a knight. She hadn't been knighted yet but it would still look bad on her if her squire was injured by her hand.

Slowly the pair left the inn and began to make their way out of Grey Town. Rather than buying a full warm breakfast like they had originally planned they simply picked up some bread from a baker who they stopped off at on the way. It didn't cost them too much and allowed them to preserve the precious gold that they had.

It was a bit of a sight for the baker seeing a nine-foot woman clad entirely in thick armour and a relatively small man who was wearing bandages. It looked very odd for him indeed but he said nothing as he could see Maxine's frustration. Instead of commenting he simply gave them what they wanted and took the money that was required. He watched as they walked away and it was likely something that he'd never forget.

They ate the bread as they walked and by the time they had finished they were on the outskirts of Grey Town. They were walking along the path that they had travelled the previous day, Charles didn't need to ask to know where they were going. He remembered Maxine's friend Gregory who had asked for their assistance in a recent job. With the loss of their gold it was the most likely place that they were going.

He wanted to ask Maxine for certainty but he was still too afraid to ask her. He feared that if he spoke she would strike him, he had seen how she had taken down three large men at the Brown Horse Inn. She had barely put any effort into it and she hadn't even used her sword. He thought that if she was able to defeat three men like that, he wouldn't stand a chance of withstanding her punch.

Maxine also purposely walked at a faster pace than normal which meant that Charles had to pick up his own pace to keep up with her. With his injuries this only made the task more painful and difficult for him. He didn't like it one bit but he couldn't say anything due to his fear of the giant woman. He thought that it was best to simply endure rather than trying to say anything.

Eventually it got to the point that Charles couldn't go on any further without having to sit down and have a decent rest. He was close to collapsing and Maxine seemed to be walking on. She did notice that he had stopped and she turned around to look at him. She had an annoyed look on her face, he was scared but he was too tired to try and catch up with the armour-clad giant.

"I didn't tell you to stop," said Maxine. Her voice was somewhat emotionless as if she didn't care.

"I'm sorry ma'am but I can't go on," replied Charles. "I'm on the verge of collapsing right now."

"We can't stop, not until I decide that we do."

"Please ma'am, I'm trying the best that I can but I simply can't keep walking right now. I need to rest."

"You rest when I tell you to rest." She looked at him and she could see how much he was struggling. Her frustration was getting the better of her and she it was negatively affecting her squire. "Fine we'll stop for now."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Charles wanted to say something else but he felt that it was best if he said something. He simply sat down on the ground and nursed his aching legs. Maxine sat down as well but she wasn't as tired as him. She was still extremely annoyed that the gold that she had earned had been stolen from her.

She began to imagine the thief in front of her. She didn't know what he looked like so she imagined a stereotypical thief. She placed her hands around his head and then squeezed until it exploded like a tomato. This was only going on in her head but it still meant that she could enjoy it.