Once Maxine had picked her number and her name had been written down, she stood next to Charles again and simply waited to see who would pick number eighteen. A small, confident smile appeared on her face as she had taken a moment to glance around the room and she couldn't see anyone who would be too much of a challenge for her. She was at least two-and-a-half-feet taller than the second tallest person competing and she thought that she would reach the finals in Royal City with ease.

More and more the numbers were selected and each competitor was glad to see that they were not facing off against Maxine in the first round. The majority of them had not seen her fight, but they were sure that she would steamroll them if she were to battle them. As far as they were concerned, this time around it wasn't thirteen that was the unlucky number. Rather, it was the number eighteen.

"Reginald McGarden," said the Official. He had his eye on many of the competitors this year and he thought that the competition this time around would be fierce. "Do I have a Reginald McGarden here?"

"That would be me," replied The Mysterious Man as he walked forward. This did catch Maxine's attention as she had been wondering when he would be called up to take his number. She had also just learned his name and she watched him place his hand in the box and picked out a slip of paper. Upon opening it, he revealed that it was the number eighteen that had been drawn.

To the remaining competitors, they gave a sigh of relief as this meant that they wouldn't have to face off against Maxine. The towering woman did take a lot of notice in what had just happened as she looked over to Reginald. She wanted to say that she would be able to defeat him with ease but there was something about him that she couldn't put her finger on. Instead, she saw him begin to make his way towards her and for a moment she expected there to be trouble. Because of this, she stayed on guard, although there were rules against opponents battling outside of the tournament.

"So, I guess we'll be fighting in the first round," said Reginald after he approached Maxine. His demeanour seemed to be friendly although his voice was somewhat muffled by the helmet that he was wearing. "I look forward testing my skills out against the daughter of Sir Tucker Martel."

"You know my father?" replied Maxine with some confusion. This caused her to lower her guard somewhat as she realised that he wasn't there to harm her.

"Of course, I was but a boy when I saw him take part in the tournament at Indigon. I've also heard some of his exploits since then and it will be an honour to face off against his daughter. I can see that he married that very tall woman that I saw him with all those years ago."

"Indeed, they did and I am their oldest daughter. I am Maxine Martel and this is my squire Charles Ingram." Charles looked over to Reginald and simply said hello to him. He wasn't sure what else he should say in this situation.

"A pleasure to meet you both, I am Reginald McGarden. I would like to say that I have some fancy titles, but the truth is that I don't. Hopefully, that'll be remedied when I win this tournament. Although I suspect that you won't make it easy for me."

"Not in the slightest. We both have the same goal but only one of us can achieve it." Although she could see that this was a relatively friendly encounter, there was still some sternness in her words.

"Then I guess our skills with the blade that will determine who will achieve their goal and who will go home disappointed. With all due respect, I will do everything within my power to ensure that it isn't me."

"You can try all you want, but I will not make it an easy task for you."

There were a few more words exchanged between the two competitors before Reginald stepped away. He was sure to bid farewell to the pair before he had moved away and he commented that he was looking forward to his match against Maxine. The towering woman was surprised with how courteous he was. She had expected him to think less of her because she was a woman, but it seemed that he had more common sense than that.

It was only a short time later when all the numbers had been drawn and each competitor had written down. Due to the number that Maxine had drawn, she was going to have to wait a while for her first match and because of this, she was allowed to sit down while the time passed.

There seemed to be a lot on her mind as Charles was polishing her armour while she was still wearing it. Since she was sitting down, it meant that he could reach the higher spots that would have been impossible if she were standing up. He was taking some care while he did this and he could see a stern look on her face. This did worry him somewhat and he hoped that he hadn't done anything to anger her. He didn't think he had but he knew that it was quite easy to frustrate her.

"Are you alright Maxine?" asked Charles. He was just about to call her ma'am, but she had told him not to call her that anymore since he no longer had a life debt to her. "Is everything alright? You seem nervous."

"I'm not nervous," replied Maxine. She tried not to snap at him as she thought that being nervous for a competition such as this was absurd. "Rather, I was just thinking about that Reginald fellow I'm going to be facing."

"He did seem quite nice, then again it could just be a show."

"Indeed, but I feel that this isn't the case. He knew about my father and seemed to have some respect towards him. I don't know if he was completely genuine or if was simply trying to lower my guard. Even so, there's still something about him that feels a little off to me." She gave a small sigh. "Something is telling me that this isn't going to be the simple match that I am expecting."

"Hmm, then I advise you to be careful. He could have some kind of trick that he's going to pull, like a secret weapon or something like that."

"I doubt it, if he tries to use a weapon that hasn't been registered then he will be disqualified. No, I think it's best thing I can do is to try and defeat him quickly, using brute force to knock him off his feet."

"If you think that will work." He knew when it came to strength and brute force, there was no one better than her. But like Sir Tucker before him, he thought that brute force could only take someone so far. Eventually there would be a day where it didn't work for her and he hoped that today wouldn't be the day.

For the next several minutes, Maxine simply sat and waited for when she was called up. There were eight matches that had to take place before her own. A couple of them were over quickly as there was a gulf in skill between some competitors. But the ones who were more evenly matched would last loner and even then, would finish due to the time limit. Then the judges would make the decision who they thought was the winner.

It was unlikely that any of Maxine's matches would take that long. But there was always the chance that this would take place. Any thoughts of this were dashed when she heard her name called out by an official. Fairly quickly, the towering armoured woman stood up to her full height and made her way to where she needed to go. This was to an entranceway where she could see Reginald standing there and waiting for her. He was still completely covered up by his armour so, she couldn't see his face or any of his skin for that matter.

The pair glanced at one another before both were instructed to make their way into the arena. With some care, both of them did so and they could see a fairly large crowd that had gathered to witness this qualifying tournament. It almost seemed like a full house and although witnessed eight matches before, they were still eager to see how the pair would battle one another.

A few moments after Maxine had stepped out, Charles did the same but rather than properly entering the arena. He instead remained on the side lines as that was what was expected of a squire. There were certain rules that dictated what a squire could and couldn't do. Directly attacking an opponent was banned but they could pass their knight a weapon if need be. Just as long as it was already registered.

Out of everyone who had entered, Maxine was only one of two people who did have a squire but no one really took notice of him. Instead, those in the crowd could see how large Maxine was but some were too surprised. A few of them had heard of the Martel family and some had even seen her in town before the tournament had started. She was a hard woman to miss as she was normally around three feet taller than any man she met.

The grounds that they would be battling on was merely just a patch of grass in a relatively small space. It looked to have been somewhat damaged by the battles that had already taken place that day. It would see many more battles before the day was done as there was expected to be a winner of the tournament.

The noise of the crowd didn't really bother Maxine as she looked at Reginald with an intense look on her face. This was somewhat hard to tell as she had put her helmet back which obscured her face from view.

Maxine could see Reginald raise his sword and from the position that it was at, she could tell that he was putting up a decent guard. It left few openings for her as she was trying to see if she could spot a way to end the match quickly. Striking against an unguarded point didn't seem to be an option at that moment in time, but it didn't mean that she couldn't find one. It would just take a little more effort.

Upon hearing the command to begin, she decided to dash forward towards Reginald as she prepared to attack. With strength and accuracy, she went to strike him with her sword but at the last possible moment, he was able to dodge out of the way. This was something that had caught her by surprise as she didn't think that he could move so quickly with all of the armour that he was wearing.

Although this frustrated Maxine, she attempted to attack again, but each strike was unsuccessful. Each one was successfully dodged by her opponent who for the moment hadn't taken any damage at all. To her this was almost unthinkable as he was beginning to make her look like a novice.

"Hey!" stated Maxine in a frustrated tone. "Stand still!" She had stated this right after he had dodged another of her attacks. This only added to her frustration as she thought that she should be doing better.

"If that is what you wish then so be it," replied Reginald. Although he had been moving with some speed, he didn't sound like he was out of breath at all. He watched as Maxine went for another attack.

"I thank you but it will be the mistake that wins me this..." She went to slash with all of her power. However, much to her surprise, he was able to lift his blade in time and block it. She was sure that the amount of power she used behind the blow would be enough to knock his sword out of his hand. Much to her surprise, he still had it comfortably in his hand and he was still preventing her from lowering her sword further towards him. "Match?"

"You have strength, I'm not surprised to see that. But I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed. I expected more from the daughter of Sir Tucker Martel."

"I have more than enough skill to make my father proud!" This only seemed to spur her on as she backed away for a moment and then tried to strike again. Once again Reginald was able to block her sword strikes. This caught the giantess by surprise as she didn't think that it was possible. "How are you blocking all of my attacks?"

"It's simple really, your attacks are too slow to catch me. But now let's see how you're able to cope when you're on the backfoot."

Suddenly Reginald was able to break off her attack and begin to launch his own sword strikes. Unlike him, Maxine was unable to dodge out of the way, mostly due to her size and the fact that her armour weighed her down. Because of this, she was left with no choice but to block all the attacks that came her way.

Like Reginald before her, she was able to block the attacks that came her way but only just. On a couple of occasions, she was only able to block by a fraction of a second. His attacks were relentless and she could feel herself becoming fatigued as she struggled to block all of the attacks.

"Y-Your better than I thought," said Reginald. "Then again I wouldn't have expected less from someone of your lineage."

"Don't mock me!" replied Maxine who was annoyed by what was happening. She had expected to simply get past him with ease but the fact that she was at a disadvantage was something that she didn't enjoy in the slightest.

"I'm not mocking you my dear. You're big and strong, there's no doubt about that. But there's still much you need to learn." He attempted to strike her leg and was surprised to find that she was able to block it. It was obvious to him that she had received a lot of training in this regard as it was an obvious weak spot. One obvious plan to defeat a larger opponent was to cut them down to size by attacking the legs. "Hmm, you saw that one coming, I can see that this still won't be an easy victory."

"You're not winning anything today!" It seemed like her anger and frustration was getting the better of her and she attempted one more attack as she tried to strike him with her sword. However now, anger fuelled her strikes and this was used to Reginald's advantage.

He was able to duck under the attack and using his superior speed was able to get behind the giant armoured woman. Before she had any chance to defend herself. She was able to strike the back of her legs with his sword. If not for her heavy armour, she would have likely have received a terrible injury. Instead, the blow simply knocked her to the ground as she felt her leg get taken from underneath her.

There was a loud thud and a roar from the crowd as Maxine struck the ground and seemed to defeated. This wasn't the case as she attempted to get up to her feet but Reginald prevented her from doing this and brought his sword close to her throat. As far as anyone could see, the mighty giantess had been defeated.

"Yield," said Reginald. "You've fought valiantly, but our match is over."

"Never!" replied Maxine with defiance. "As long as I breathe, I will never yield!" She went to grab onto his ankle and Reginald knew that this was something that he simply couldn't allow to happen.

At no point did he doubt Maxine's strength and he knew that if she was able to grab a hold of him, that she would have the advantage. He could also see the determination in her eyes and he knew that he had defeat her as soon as possible. But he could see that she was fatigued and that she wouldn't be battling at her peak. One of the most important things right now was to make sure that she didn't get up.

Reginald struck her helmet with his sword with such force that he was able to knock it off. This exposed her head and one of the last things she saw before everything went black was his armoured knee coming her way. There was no time for her to react as the armoured knee struck her and she became unconscious.

When Maxine finally came to, she found herself still lying on the ground. But rather than being inside the arena like she had before, now she was in a fairly large, enclosed area. She groaned for a moment but it didn't take her long to remember what she had been doing. Because of this, she quickly sat up and was quite groggy, despite this she still wanted to fight as she went to grab her sword. Only to find that it wasn't in her grasp.

"M-My sword," said Maxine as she was still in a state of confusion. "Where is my sword?" There was a hint of frustration in her voice and the next thing that she saw was Charles quickly moving towards her. This made her angry as she thought that he was making a huge mistake. "Charles what are you doing? You can't come onto the field; you're going to get me disqualified!"

"Ma'am," said Charles as he could see that his friend was still in a state of confusion. "I mean Maxine, we're not on the field. You've been taken back inside."

"What?" By this point in time, she began to look around and she realised that this was the case. She could see a couple of other people lying on the ground as well. Like her, they had been competitors in the tournament. All of them had received some kind of injury that needed treatment. Quickly she began to start getting up from where she was sitting as she more than intended to continue the match. But she was still in some confusion over what had taken place. "What happened?"

"Y-You were battling Reginald and he was able to knock you unconscious. The officials were worried about you so they brought you back here for treatment."

"Knocked unconscious?" She began to realise what it meant but she simply didn't want to admit it to herself. "But I can still fight."

"I'm sorry but Reginald has been declared the winner, you've been eliminated from the tournament." The words that he said cut her deeper than any sword ever had and within herself, Maxine's very soul was being crushed.

"No, this can't be!" There was some rage in her voice as she stood up to her full height. She went to step forward but she felt Charles grab onto the highest part of her body that he could reach. Due to their almost three-and-a-half-foot height difference, it wasn't very far that he could reach. "I-I need this to earn my knighthood!"

"Please, you need to stop." He looked up at her and he felt great sympathy for her. He knew how much winning these qualifiers and going onto the main tournament meant to her. Being defeated in the first round of the qualifiers had shook her to her very core. He then felt something wet strike his forehead and for a moment he was confused. Only to notice that it was from a tear that was rolling down Maxine's face. This was the first time that he had ever seen her cry, this was something that he thought was impossible for her.

"You fought valiantly," replied a familiar voice. This was when Maxine looked to her right and she could see Reginald standing there. He was leaning against the wall and it seemed like the match that they had just gone through hadn't tired him out at all. "But there is still much that you need to learn."

"Don't patronise me!" Her voice was stern and angry as she thought that he was trying to mock her. It wasn't just the fact that he had defeated her that had gotten her so angry but also that he had done it so easily. Even if they were to fight ten times, she felt that she would have lost every encounter.

"I'm not trying to mock you Ms Martel. You have enormous potential; I have no doubt about that. However, you're not there yet, you're young so you have plenty of time to improve your skills." Just then he heard his name called out and he knew that it meant that he needed to leave as his next match was about to start. "I look forward to the day when we meet again and test each other's skills. I'm more than confident that you will have improved by leaps and bounds by then."

Maxine didn't know what to say as she was filled with many emotions. The two that mostly came to mind was sorrow and anger. She watched as Reginald gave her a small bow and then walked away. From her point of view, he was still mocking her over how easily he had defeated her.

Clenching her fists, the armoured giantess did consider taking her frustration out on Reginald but she quickly threw away this thought. Not only would she bring shame to herself, but she thought that it would bring shame to her family as well. How could she genuinely state that she intended to become a knight if she were to attack an opponent when their back was turned.

"Maxine," said Charles. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous as he could see that she was not in the best of moods. Because of this, he knew that he had to be careful with what he said. "D-Did you want to watch the remaining matches?"

"No, I don't!" Her voice was quiet but the disappointment was clear to be heard. She then began to step forward, although she was still a little groggy. Because of this, she was slightly uneven on her feet. "There's no reason for us to stay here, we're done."

"A-As you wish."

The truth was that Charles wouldn't have minded staying to watch the rest of the qualifiers, but he knew that it was best to not go against Maxine at this moment in time. He didn't think that she would harm him, but he could see that she wasn't in the mood to be argued with. Instead, he thought that it was best to simply go along with what she wanted. Just so that things would become less complicated.

Mere minutes later, Maxine found herself sitting inside of a tavern that wasn't too far away from where the qualifiers had taken place. In her hand was the largest container of ale that she could buy and she was drinking it as if it was water. Many of the patrons inside of the tavern did notice her, mostly due to her absolutely enormous size.

There was also the fact that she was being very quiet. Thoughts about her loss had rocked her to her core and thus she was drinking to try and make herself feel better. All this time, Charles was sitting next to her and recording a few notes into his book. They did possess some gold but he feared that it would be gone soon if Maxine continued to drink the way that she was. He knew that she could drink enough to kill a fully grown man several times over and feel little to no effect.

More than an hour passed with Maxine drinking more and more ale. The only times she stopped was so that she could go and relieve herself. Then she would simply sit back down and continue drinking. It was like at that moment in time, all that was important was simply drinking her problems away.

"M-Maxine," said Charles with a small hint of nervousness. He knew that this wasn't going to end well, but he went through with it anyway. All he could do was hope for the best. "I don't think you should be drinking that quickly."

"You think a lot of things," replied Maxine in a nonchalant manner. She then places the container to her lips again and drank the remaining ale that was inside. This only took a few moments before she placed it back down on the counter and looked at the man who was working behind it. "Tavern Keeper, another!"

The Tavern Keeper did as he was told as he filled up another ale for Maxine and placed it in front of her. To a normal person, they would have somewhat struggled to lift it with one arm. If they did, it would cause their wrist to ache. Not Maxine however, as it looked like nothing more than a simple cup in her hand. The cold hat was required to pay for it was given over, but it once again chipped away at the funds that they had.

"Seriously," said Charles as he knew that he needed to put his foot down. "If you keep drinking at this rate, we're going to run out of money before the end of the day. And we still need to find food and accommodations."

"We'll earn more money." Her response was quick and to the point as she continued to drink. It seemed like she didn't care about how much it cost. Just as long as she received her precious ale.

"Not if all you're going to do is sit here and drink. With all due respect, it's not like a job is just going to fall into your lap and with the rate that you're going through those. We're going to run out of money before sunset."

"You do not tell me what to do!" By this point in time Maxine's frustration was peaking as she still getting over the disappointment of losing her match. She stood up from where she was sitting and grabbed onto his collar. With little effort, she was able to lift him off her feet and bring him up to her level. "I am the one in charge, not you! So, if you want to keep all of your teeth, I suggest you shut up and do what I tell you to do!"

Her voice was loud and it drew the attention of everyone inside of the tavern. They all looked over to the nine-foot woman who had her squire by the scruff of his neck and could throw him to one side like a ragdoll. Her eyes were filled with pure rage and as she looked at him, she could see just how terrified he was.

Charles didn't do much to try and break free as he had known at this point in time that there was no chance of him overpowering her. She likely had more strength in her one arm than he did in his entire body and he knew that he was at her mercy. All he could hope for was that she wouldn't harm him.

Just as her anger was beginning to peak, Maxine began to make a realisation. The man that she was currently threatening wasn't some drunk who had insulted her or a criminal that had wronged someone. Instead, she was holding the only man that she truly considered to be a friend who had only been trying to make her see reason. This made her realise that what she was doing was wrong.