Once we got to the festival, we investigated the area a little bit. There was an absurd amount of people, so carrying around the six barrels of ale I had brought proved difficult. Ban took two and King and Meli each took one to help out.

We asked around, seeing if a collection of pedestrians and various merchants knew where we could find, what I'm still assuming to be, Diane's sacred treasure. After we asked about twenty people, an old drunk guy told us the fighting festival was where the 'weapon nobody could use' was. It was being used as a reward for winning the festival.

We travelled up to the large boulder where the festival was being held, and, sure enough, Gideon, Diane's sacred treasure, was embedded in the side of the boulder.

Now to current time, I had just finished setting up my 'booth.' The six barrels were stacked up in a pyramid, each one having a nozzle for the ale. There was a small table (that I totally didn't steal) set up in front of the pyramid, as well as two ale cups. One for me, the other for whoever my competitor was.

The deal was, whoever couldn't stand up straight after the amount of ale the both of us have drank lost. It was a pretty standard drinking competition rule. You fill your cup up to the top, drink it, last one standing normal wins.

"STEP RIGHT UP!" I boomed from the back of the festival, catching the eyes of several men in the crowd. "TEN SILVER COINS IS THE BET THAT YOU CAN'T BEAT ME IN A DRINKING COMPETITION!"

I grinned, having my outstretched thumb in the direction of my chest. "BEAT ME AND YOU GET DOUBLE, BUT LOSE AND I GET YOUR MONEY AND THE NEXT COMPETITOR MAY WIN IT!"

Several older men chuckled to themselves and began making their way over. I smirked as the first man approached, pulling out the promised ten silver coins and setting them on the table.

"So, sweetheart," he grinned, "You think you can beat an experienced drinker like me?"

"Depends," I smirked. "You got the coins?"

He tossed ten silver coins on the table in the same place I tossed mine. I grabbed the ale cup in front of me, and he grabbed his. I turned to the small crowd that had gathered around my area.

"Anyone want to be our ref?"

A woman stepped forward, dressed in a nice crimson dress with a face caked in makeup. She winked at me, mouthing 'you better win' and smiled.

"Fill your cups and I'll tell you when to start drinking," she grinned, her annoyingly high pitched voice ringing through our ears. We filled out cups to the brim and she yelled, "Start!"

I gulped down the first one without a problem, just as he did. As I filled my second glass, I glanced at the fighting ring, where the priliminary rounds had begun. People were flying out of the ring, going every which way. I smiled to myself, seeing Ban and Meli standing next to each other as they knocked people out of the ring. I snorted lightly, seeing King floating in between them, looking extremely uncomfortable.

I downed the second glass without a hitch, yet he was starting to look a bit tipsy. He must not be used to the high alcohol content of Bernia Ale. Experienced drinker, eh?

By the fourth glass he was out and I had twenty silver coins. The next man stepped up, a fatass with an overgrown ginger beard. His eyes were a piercing green and he stared at me dangerously. He tossed his ten coins on the table and we began drinking, our referee, who's name was Synthia, I learned, signaling our start.

He lost as well, only around eight cups in. I was used to drinking a lot. Not only did I spend 99% of my time in bars before meeting up with the Sins again, but one of our main celebrations was drinking. We normally were twenty pints in at this point, and that's around when I'd start to feel somewhat tipsy.

Certain men were beginning to feel less confident in their chances, so less people were lining up to take the challenge. I took a glance at the ring, seeing that the preliminaries had ended. Ban; King; Meli; a very tall, buff man with a bald head who I recognized as the two-time winner, Taizoo; a man with blonde hair styled obnoxiously; a woman with a hat and cloak covering her features; the old drunk man who had told us where the festival was; and... Griamore? I furrowed my brows, seeing the Holy Knight. What was he doing in a place like this...?

"Hey, little lady!"

I turned my head, facing the person in front of me. I raised my gaze to find a tall, lanky man who was about double my height. He had black hair, styled into a bowl cut that covered his eyes. His voice was deep and menacing, and he had thrown two gold coins onto the table.

"I'm raising the bet."

"Fair enough," I grinned, sweeping the thirty silver coins on the table into my wallet and pulling out two gold coins. I tossed them next to his and filled up my glass.

"Start!" Synthia said gleefully and the two of us began to drink.

This guy was a bit harder to beat. He got about fifteen pints in before he lost. I was beginning to feel a little bit intoxicated now, but I was far from the point where I was going to lose. The man that followed only got three cups in, and I won again. I figured once I finally lost, I could host the game while selling ale as well.

I glanced over at the fight again, almost choking on my saliva. The Holy Knight Griamore was going against the girl from before, but she no longer had her cloak on. That wasn't the part that surprised me.

She was wearing the Boar Hat uniform- and the only person who wore that was Ellie.

I stared at the fight, confused. The girl was punching the crap out of Griamore- a feat that I'm pretty sure Ellie is incapable of. So then... who is it?

The next man caught my attention, and I beat him while watching the fight. I tossed the second ale barrel, finishing that one and leaving four more to be drank.

I couldn't hear the words being spoken on the battlefield over the cheers, and not to mention we were a good distance away from each other. I could only see what was happening.

A purple barrier had formed around Griamore, I'm assuming that's his magical power. It pushed against the girl, forcing her to the outer edge of the ring. She pounded her fists against the barrier with a tremendous amount of speed, but it had no effect. Only after a few attempts, she broke it with a particularly strong strike.

I couldn't pinpoint her magical abilities. Meli's, Ban's, King's, and the presence of two Holy Knights muddied the difference between people's separate abilities. I could barely separate theirs from the crowd's. There was one other extremely powerful set of power, I just couldn't tell whose it was.

I beat the next three people- four, five, and two cups. Wimps.

I watched as the girl punched through the purple orb, shattering it as she charged forward. She uppercutted his jaw, sending him flying out of the ring. Her hat flew off of her head and my eyes widened.

I climbed on top of the table, being sure I had seen it correctly.

The girl had brown hair that went to her mid-back, and straight bangs that cut across her forehead. Her eyes were a striking purple, outmatching the rich color of the orb that surrounded the Holy Knight she had previously fought. I now recognized her magical power- it seemed so obvious now that I knew who she was. Yet, it didn't seem possible....

How did Diane get so small?!?!

I sighed, then shouted to the group of people around me. "The competition is closed! You're all losers, so scram!"

There was a collective grumble, as well as a few curses thrown out. They still all returned to the crowd, staring at the ring to watch the upcoming battle. I frowned. I couldn't just leave all these barrels over here.

I felt a sudden prod on my knee, and I turned, curious, to see what it was. I found Hawk staring up at me, grinning. I grinned back; perfect.

"(Y/N)! Guess what?" He asked, huffing triumphantly, "I just sold a whole barrel of ale, and we're only on the first battle!"

"Great Hawk," I smirked, beginning to walk toward the crowd as I pointed at the three and a half barrels that were stacked up. "Cause now you have three and a half more to sell."

"WHAT?!" He screeched, causing me to laugh as I trudged into the crowd. I pushed past people, getting a few more explicit names thrown my name. I returned them wholeheartedly.

I saw Meli, Ban, and King all standing on the edge, staring at the miniature Diane, "Matrona", who was in the center of the ring still. I poked Ban's back, and he turned to look at me with an eyebrow raised. Once he saw it was me, he returned to his normal stoic expression.

"Oh. 'Sup (y/n)," he said, then smirked. "You lose one of your competitions?"

I snorted, crossing my arms and rolling my eyes. "You wish. I told Hawk to sell the rest of the barrels. I came over to see what the hell a mini Diane was doing here."

I pointed at the girl who was now smiling just as Diane does, skipping toward us. He nodded, facing toward her. "That's what we're wondering too."

The girl approached, smiling as she hopped over the edge of the ring. "Maaaan.... I wanted to keep it a secret a little bit longer." She spoke, her voice sounding identical to the giantess Sin's. There was no doubt- this is Diane.

"Captain.... Am I dreaming?" King asked Meli, as I moved to join the group. I stood between Ban and Meli; King was on the other side of the captain, floating on his pillow.

"No... I don't think so," the aforementioned blonde responded, staring at the girl as well.

"Busted!" She giggled, looking at Meli. He stared blankly back at her.

"Who are you?"

His voice rang out, causing me to snort lightly, having to contain my giggles. She stared at him as though he had just murdered her best friend, and Meli stared right back with a blank expression.

She suddenly charged her fist back, ramming it into Meli's stomach. He fell to the floor, twitching lightly as she stormed off toward the room next to the ring where I assume they picked the battle partners.

"I DON'T CARE THEN!" She has shouted as she punched him, then continued muttering as she stomped away. "Stupid, stupid, stupid captain!"

"Captain!! Are you okay?!" King exclaimed, before glancing back and turning toward Diane. He shouted as he chased after her. "DIANE! Wait!!"

She froze in her walking stance, pausing for a moment after hearing her name. I, however, was to preoccupied with laughing my ass off with Ban at the state of Meli.

"What did I do?" He groaned quietly. I laughed harder, pointing at him. Ban wheezed from beside me.

"That was literally," I giggled, "the worst thing you could've said!"

Ban and I continued laughing for a short moment, then contained our giggles pretty quickly after Meli stood up and recovered from the attack. I was going to poke fun at him, but King brought our attention away from our current situation.

"Anyway, Ban, (y/n), captain!" King shouted from across the arena, waving us over to him and Diane. Meli swayed slightly, but he walked alongside me and Ban as we approached King, who had a small drop of blood leaking from his right nostril. I grinned as we approached.

"Hey Diane!" I hummed, and her eyes widened. "How'd you get so small?"

"Y-you knew it was me?" She asked, astonished. I giggled, hooking my arm in hers and pumping my fist lightly.

"Are you kidding me?" I laughed, looking at her with a lopsided grin. "I'd recognize my partner in crime the second I saw her- no matter the size."

She smiled, laughing with me as we unhooked our arms and faced the group, the collection of us forming a small circle. My expression grew more serious as I cocked my head to the side. "But seriously, how'd you get so small? And where's Ellie?"

She turned her head away, spreading the small scarf around her neck to reveal her chest. Only it wasn't just her chest. It was a really tiny version of....

"ELLIE?!?!" I screeched, jaw wide open as my eye twitched. "B-but... how? And why... why there?"

The small princess waved shyly at me, careful to cover the necessary parts of her body with Diane's skin as well as her arms. Diane sighed, flicking a strand of her hair out of her face.

"We were out looking for ingredients for the Tavern," The Serpent Sin began, "and we were chatting when we ran into this giant mushroom! I didn't recognize the species, and Elizabeth had never seen it either, so naturally we assumed we could use it for dinner. I was about to grab it when it just kinda.... flattened itself. It shot out all this weird pink smoke, and all of the sudden Elizabeth and I were both really small. Or, well- smaller than usual," she added awkwardly. She pulled out a necklace, with a small deep lavender crystal on it. I had seen Ellie with it once or twice, so I vaguely recognized it, but it didn't seem to hold too much importance. Diane sighed as she turned the crystal in her hand. "So for now I'm borrowing Elizabeth's clothes, and I had to wear her jewelry since we didn't want to lose anything-" she put the necklace down- "There are no clothes in her size, so for now she's stuck where she is."

"Ooooooh," the captain nodded, his index finger and thumb framing his chin as though he was in thought. "So that's how you ended up squished between Diane's boobs." He addressed Ellie.

"Meli!" I growled, smacking him upside the head.

"That was probably a King Trumpet-Type mushroom- the Chicken Matango," King spoke, nodded subtly to himself.

"Sounds like one of your old nicknames," I muttered, snorting. King let out a short laugh, before clearing his throat.

"Ahem," King continued, "The Matangos are relatively timid monsters, so you hardly ever see them, but when they feel threatened, they release a spore that shrinks other living things so they're less threatening. There are other types of mushrooms that make you fall asleep or hallucinate, but the King Trumpet variety have a particularly strong and potent spore. Of course, the-"

"Setting Botany aside for the moment," said Meli, cutting King off as he turned to Ellie and Diane. "Why didn't you two tell us right away?"

"I wanted to surprise you, Captiaaaan!!" Diane squealed, practically tackling the blonde as she jumped into his arms. I snickered as King shouted a loud, comical 'Noooooo!' as tears leaked from his eyes in rivers.

"Ah!" Diane giggled, hugging Meli from his neck, "You holding me your arms is a dream come true!"

"It was more like you tackled me..." Meli muttered, but Diane continued.

"I was always so jealous of Elizabeth..." She spoke sadly, then her face lit up. "Oh, I forgot! Hurry, put me down! Put me down!"

"Geez, you're busy today, aren't you?" Meli spoke, setting the girl on the ground again. She grinned widely before lifting up her skirt, revealing pink underwear with a black bow just under its waistband.

"Grope me all over, Captain!" She said happily, "Just like you do with Elizabeth!"

I started choking on my own saliva, coughing loudly as I tried not to die from the stupidly hilarious scene. King, who was on my left, had broken out in a large nosebleed, and was attempting to cover up the gushing blood with his hand. Ban was staring at them, a small smirk on his face. Obviously, I couldn't see Ellie's reaction.

"No thanks," Meli stayed bluntly, unbothered by Diane's suddenly crushed expression. She looked at the the ground as she twisted her foot sadly, seeming on the verge of tears.

"What am I to you, Captain?" She asked quietly, barely louder than a whisper. I frowned; I knew she had a crush on Meli, but.... it was really upsetting seeing her look so down. She started talking quietly to herself, and Meli approached her slowly. "Just when... just when I became smaller.... I thought it was because I was so big...." she scrunched up her face, eyes glistening. Oh god.... "So the Captain really doesn't care about me."

The aforementioned man finally reached his destination, standing directly in front of her depressed form. He reached his hand up and patted her head, ruffling her hair slightly.

"There, there," he spoke in the most insensitive way he could've said it. I growled, getting ready to beat his ass for being such a... well, ass. He spoke again, grinning and saving himself from my attempted assault. "I couldn't do something like that to someone so important to me. I guess for now we'll just have to deal with this, okay?"

Diane's face burst into color, becoming a bright red that put ripe tomatoes to shame. She looked so happy. Good job, Meli; you saved yourself. This time.

"O-okay!" Diane spoke happily, "I'll be fine!"

There was a silence. Not an uncomfortable one, but not comforting either. It was sort-of in-between. Like the grey color in the morning that comes just before sunrise , It was the grey area- the moment when you knew something was about to happen.

"So," I spoke up, stepping forward in the group. "We all ended up at the fighting festival, huh?"

"I guess so..." Diane grinned, turning toward me. Her face grew shocked for a moment, and she turned to Meli once again. "I'm so stupid; I almost forgot-" she hugged him, forcing his face into her chest- "We can make babies now!"

I laughed, and King slumped onto his pillow in defeat, finally having cleaned all the blood off his face. Meli stared blankly forward, and his words were muffled by her chest.

"We're you listening to anything I said?"

I grinned wider, and I think Ban was about to say something, but he was cut off by the loud shout of the referee.

"LET THE NEXT MATCH...... BEGIN!!"

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