The dawn came earlier than I had wished for it too.

Rolling out of my bed I fell face first into the hardwood floor and with a grumble that would make the devil himself back away from me out of fear of getting the shit beat out of him. Slowly picking myself up off the floor I shuffled to my bathroom and looked in the mirror, the sight itself was enough to even make my spine tingle.

My eyes were bloodshot, my hair was a mess, it even looks like there was vomit on me and I don't think its mine.

Taking off my ale and vomit stained shirt I threw it on the floor along with the rest of my clothes, I looked at myself and noticed that the bruises from the numerous training sessions are in full bloom as there are purple bruises all over my torso, shoulders, legs, and back. Someday these bruises will heal but for the time being, they are reminders that I still suck at fighting and that in an actual fight I would be dead several times over.

Standing in my bathroom with nothing but my underwear on I let out a sigh before stripping those off as well and flinging them out as well before stepping into the crude bathtub that these griffons have and let out a shuddering exhale as the cold water nearly chilled me to the bone.

'That is one way to wake me up fully.'

I don't know if a cold bath was necessary to get myself into a fully awake state of mind, but it did its job as I started to clean myself up, today was more lessons with the princess to learn about the political landscape and how to help her when needed. Scrubbing myself clean of filth, sweat and what is possibly dried vomit, I made myself as clean as I possibly could in this day and age before hopping out of the tub, dried myself off and step back into my room.

Upon exiting my bathroom with the towel wrapped around my neck I stepped out to see that while I was busy cleaning myself up, one of the castle maids was in my room trying to clean it up but as soon as I opened the door, the maid turned her head and saw my naked body.

The two of us simply stood there like deer caught in headlights, we stared at one another for what might have been a few minutes and over the course of those minutes the griffon maid started to look me over and before this could go any further I told her that she could leave. By speaking up the griffon gave a startled squawk and quickly scrambled out of my room, letting out several apologies before shutting the door behind her and leaving me alone in my room once again.

"I need to lock that damn thing next time, I swear it is almost like these griffons enjoy walking in on me coming out of the bathroom." I said to myself as I got myself ready for the day.

With that out of the way I went to the only drawer in the room and pulled out today's clothes and with a bit of a struggle with the pants (the damn strings will be the death of me one of these days) and with a brief snarl at the color of my new shirt (periwinkle, kill me) I was ready to greet the day.

Eating breakfast with the guards was alright, the food wasn't bland or terrible but it could use a bit more something to make it taste better. After that, it was lessons with the princess, something I was not looking forward to but seeing how I am her retainer and that in the future when she is the queen I will have to be by her side giving her advise and whatever else she needs from me.

Wasn't really expecting my life to go in that direction, a servant to someone half my size and a completely different species.

And so here the two of us are, me sitting in her room, the princess sitting on what might as well be a sofa cushion and me sitting on a small wooden chair that can barely support my weight. I was trying my best to be comfortable on the damn thing while she was busy enjoying her tea, I never really took her for a tea-drinker but then again I never took myself being stuck in a world where shit like this was even remotely possible so eh, things could always be much worse.

"So, Ian, do you know anything about the minotaurs?" Eraclea asks me as I struggled not to grunt at the annoyance of the uncomfortable chair.

"Other than they are taller, more muscular and that they got horns and bull-like features than me? Nope." I said as I finally found a position that didn't result with me sitting right on my tailbone.

Taking a sip from her little cup I watched her mull over my words for like a second before she opened her beak to say something.

"Well you are not wrong with their physical description, so I am guessing you don't know anything about them?"

"You are correct on that assumption, your highness." I said again but this time noticing that she was trying to find out more about what I know.

'Trying to glean more from me now? Alright I'll play along to your little games.'

"Alright then, for starters, the minotaurs are our neighbors to the northwest and that they inhabit the numerous mountain ranges and steppes that make up their homeland. Their people, for the most part, are almost like us when it comes to placing honor up high in priorities but instead of bringing honor to the family, it is about bringing honor and glory to their clan. The minotaurs have numerous clans and each clan rules a city that has served as their ancestral home for centuries."

"For the most part, the minotaurs are an insolated lot who stick to their lands and hardly ever venture out unless they have been banished for committing a grievous crime or are part of the merchant caste. We have known them for a few centuries after the truce we made during the only war we had with them, I can't exactly recall many details about it but from what I can remember I know that the war was destructive for both races and that it nearly led to both of our extinctions."

Huh, I never knew that little tidbit of information.

"So how did peace come between the two of you nations?" I asked, even though I have been here for at least two and a half months, I still wasn't up-to-date on the world history and knowledge of the griffons let alone their neighbors.

"I...I can't exactly say how it happened, the only scroll that we have that had the details on that event has sadly deteriorated because we didn't have an effective means of preserving at the time." Well, that sucks ass.

"I see."

"Now then, do you know anything about the Yaks?"

"Umm, covered in thick fur, have horns, don't like people?" Thank you animal planet for this one! I knew watching you wasn't a complete and utter waste of time when I was bored!

"Wow, you are actually spot on, have you met them before?"

"Sorta, I have seen a few in the past but I never really interacted with them."

"Well, to put it bluntly, the yaks are loud, obnoxious, aggressive at the drop of a hat, stubborn to a fault, and above all else, they throw tantrums when things don't go their way." Oh my god, so they are this world's version of children who never got their ass beat by their parents for misbehaving and acting like little shits. I can already see how my future interactions with them will be going...fuck my life.

"Huh, nice to know what to expect from them." I may need to stay the fuck away from them because I might not be able to stop myself from getting into a shouting match with one.

"Our dealings with the yaks always ends with furniture being ruined and the tiles being destroyed, a war almost being declared and lastly if not the most important part, my father wanting to desperately claw the yak representatives face off." Eraclea says as she takes another sip from her teacup.

With a nod we then moved onto the next subject of discussion.

"You already know about the diamond dogs but whatever you can tell me about them will be helpful."

"Besides the time I dealt with them in the warrens, I don't really know much about them." I said as I recalled some of the things I saw and heard while I was down there but for the most part it wasn't really much to remember and focus on.

"Well, besides them fighting each other to change their standing in the pack, the females taking care of the pups, tending to the cooking and healing of the wounded dogs while the males did all the digging, hunting, fighting, looting. In all the diamond dogs felt more tribal and uncivilized even though the alpha at the time was smarter than the rest of them."

Maybe that was a rare thing for their race.

After that we moved onto dragons and I immediately perked up. Why? Because everything is better with dragons, that's why!

The hunt for a dangerous beast is taking too long? Add a dragon into the mix by having it capture the beast that is being hunted and is in the process of eating it!

Caravans being attacked and destroyed by an unknown group of people? Turns out it was a young dragon that moved into the area and is carving it up as its territory!

Beautiful princess gets kidnapped? Probably a dragon so said princess can be bribed so the dragon can add more gold to its stash of loot!

Princess Eraclea was somewhat takin aback by my fountain of knowledge that I am spewing out, apparently outside of most aged scholars and those that tried to hunt dragons in the past, not much was known about the dragons with the exception of that they are greedy by nature, they horde gold and anything of monetary value, and they eat meat.

Eventually after our talks of knowing what the other nations of the world produce, what they export and import, the varying trade agreements and of course, the ever-growing debt that the griffons somehow managed to accumulate within the past ten years, we eventually got to the hot topic of the previous day between me and a griffon hen who has a burning hatred for me.

"So what did we learn last week Ian?" Eraclea says as she takes a dainty sip from her teacup, trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Never help Instructor Harper to the infirmary ever again?" I said with a blunt tone, my left hand subconsciously rubbing the bruise that damnable hen left behind on me.

"Not entirely wrong nor is it correct." the griffon princess says as she takes another sip, this time letting out the smallest of giggles out, apparently she thought this shit was funny.

It sure as fuck wasn't funny to me.

"Then I got nothing."

"You were supposed to send a guard to the infirmary to fetch the nurses so they could address her injuries at the training yard before having her sent to the infirmary."

"Well, she didn't tell me that due to being unconscious. Hell, I thought I was doing a good deed for her and yet she fucking clocks me in the face just for being nice! What the hell is her problem?" I said as I nearly stand up and knocked the chair over in the process.

"Her problem is that she hates you." wow, not even going to sugar coat it.

"The fuck did I do to her to deserve this hate?" I shouted as I threw my arms in the air, clearly upset that this cunt of a griffon hates me for some reason. I did nothing wrong to her when we first met and yet she bears a major grudge against me.

"You were made into a knight and was given the sword that she wanted." the griffon princess says as she takes a sip from her teacup, she was very calm about this while I was raging and howling at the moon like a feral dog.

Immediately all steam was stolen from my sails as I was told the reason for the instructor's hatred for me.

"Really? Because I became a knight and was given a sword for it to match my rank? That's her reason for being such a freaking cunt to me this entire time!?"

"Yes, although she isn't the only one that hates you for being a knight. There are actually several more griffons that work within this castle that hold a firm hatred towards you for receiving a knighthood."

"Are you serious?"

"Mmhmm, many of the griffons working here are clinging to the past because that is all that they know of, but you and I both know that times are changing and that if they don't change with it then they will be swept away and be forgotten. By making you a knight, my father is showing to the griffons here and throughout the kingdom that there are those that are not born a griffon that they got the soul of one and that they can help and defend this country just like any natural-born citizen can. My father is trying to show the nation that it doesn't have to be all about us griffons, no, he wants to show everyone that we don't need to be afraid of outsiders, in fact, we should be welcoming them!"

"It is because of outsiders that we got back the Idol of Boreas and that the plot for the throne has been stopped! The vast majority of the nobility and upper crust of the commoners believe that outsiders are a plague upon this kingdom and that they must be thrown out at any cost, but they have to know that if it wasn't for those from the outside world than we wouldn't have the metallurgy knowledge we have now, nor would have the means of creating the watermills that line the numerous rivers that go throughout the lands, and we cannot even forget about that if it wasn't for people like you than we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"The fools that think that outsiders are nothing but bad news are stuck sitting in the past, with you now on our side we can show them that you and those that are not citizens of this great nation are what is needed. What you bring with you is the knowledge that we don't have and the means of improving everything around us."

"And what does this have to do with me?" I asked as I took a bite from an apple that was sitting in the dainty food basket, it gave a satisfying crunch and it was juicy. Just the way I like em, not tart, not sour, just nice, sweet and juicy.

"Other than that mystical knowledge that you have stored away within that strange closed tablet of yours, you also bring to the table the knowledge of your people and your pragmatic attitude of yours has served you well so far," Eraclea says as she sets her teacup down onto the little plate it came with, I gave her an eyebrow raise, there is no way in hell that she thinks that she can try and get me to divulge any information just because she asks me to.

"You still haven't given me any reason as to give you any kind of information that will help you and your people. To me, it seems that they are fine so far, maybe a few improvements here and there are what they need but the things I got stored away? No, you are not ready for any of that yet nor will you be ready for it for the foreseeable future."

This seemed to be the thing that sets off the princess because immediately upon me telling her that the griffon race isn't ready for the leaps and bounds I could be giving them, she pounces right on top of me from the front and is holding me by the collar of my gamberson and held me in place as she let out a loud as hell hawk screech right in my face.

I think my ears exploded from that screech...

Nope, hearing is just fine, just the sounds of ringing and an angry griffon.

When she was done doing her screech of the damned, she still held onto my shirt and stayed on top of me as she glared down at my prone form.

"Not ready? Not READY! We are so far behind everyone around us in terms of technology and military might that the only reason as to why they haven't conquered us yet is because we don't have anything of value to take! All of our villages and towns are scattered to the four winds, our metalwork is shit so we have to import and order all of our weapons and armor from the minotaurs! Many of the tools we use along with the textiles and fabrics we get from the equestrians and yaks, we have nothing to offer the world because we lost the means to produce what we need!"

'Huh...that seems like a curse or a lack of education...or both.'

Oh, its a curse alright but being taught on how to do the task at hand also can't be done when they can't even remember how to do it in the first place doesn't help either.

'Really? Who the hell is powerful enough to curse an entire race of people to make them forget that much knowledge?'

Well, when I say curse its more along the lines of a sacred relic that was once connected to every single griffon in Griffonia that made them united and powerful. That relic also was the reason why the griffons were the strongest military power on the planet, right next to the dragons in the Burning Wastes of their homeland.

'How does that relic even do all that?'

It was created by the god that made the griffons, which they worship although they now call their god she and that she is an honor-bound goddess of war.

'Huh, the more you know.'

Yup, but anyways, that relic you found, the Idol of Boreas, it connects to the griffons the same way like insects connect to one another, a hivemind if you will, and with it working like that for the griffons it made them a fighting force not the be messed with. It also helped them retain that craftsman knowledge with perfect clarity that they were lacking because they were once nothing more than roaming tribes of hunter-gatherers.

'So their god uplifted them cause she was tired of them living like savages?'

Pretty much.

'I am starting to regret this life of mine now.'

"So let me get this straight Eraclea, you are telling me that everything I saw has been imported from foreign lands because you griffons are lacking in the know-how to make it yourselves."

"Yes, from the weapons and armor that the royal guards are using and wearing to the griffons that work every day out in the fields, in the mines or in their homes. We are in a debt so massive that whenever the equestrians, minotaurs or even the yaks come asking for something, we have no choice but to give them whatever they want from us under fear of that if we fail to uphold our end of the deal then the minotaurs or yaks will invade us!"

"Wouldn't the equestrians just safeguard you all since you have a debt with them?"

"You would think that, but sadly no. If we were to ever fail to uphold our side of the bargain then they will simply stop sending medicinal herbs and food to us until we can pay them back. They have done this before and even though their princesses have tried to keep the supply of needed goods our way, that prince of theirs and his gaggle of crony nobles keep managing to overturn their ruling due to that damnable council of nobles of theirs."

"To simply put it, we can't march forward and we can't march backward because no matter what we do we will always be stuck in this debt unless you help us be more self-sufficient with the knowledge that you have!" Eraclea says as she presses her beak to my nose, the glare she is giving me is a little too harsh but it is understandable.

I can understand the situation that this hen is currently in, to be the daughter of a king whose kingdom is in decline due to not only their sacred idol being gone for several long years but also because of the debts they got into due to said idol being lost. It is almost as if someone or something has either been trying to keep the griffons in a weak state so they can either prepare themselves for what might be their call to war on whoever did this to them, or something far more nefarious.

Whatever the case may be, I think that this was a prelude to something far more sinister. I need to know more about the world I am in and the situations happening around me. It feels like I am only looking at the smallest piece of the picture to the grander scheme of things.

Shutting my eyes I did a mental search on what I could possibly give them and what the possible consequences could be and after a mental eternity of weighing the pros and cons of this action, I decided that if I am going to be stuck in this world for the foreseeable future, I may as well make the nation I am living in better than what it used to be. Hell, improving their plumbing system would be a start, their current toilets fucking suck balls, it is just a hole in the ground leading to somewhere.

"So you are stuck and no matter what you try to do, your country will be stuck in debt because of circumstances placed upon you."

"In laymen's terms...yes."

Pushing myself up with my right hand I kept Eraclea from falling backward by holding onto her back with my left hand, the quiet chirp she made when my hand pressed against her back was adorable but the softened glare, blushing cheek feathers and the fact that her talons are digging into my arms is telling me that I am doing something wrong.

I bet I did something I wasn't supposed to, but fuck it, I got work to do.

"My life just can never be simple and easy can it..." I said as I let out an explosive sigh before picking up the griffon princess and placed her back on her seat cushion before going back to my chair, set it back up and sat down in it before continuing on with what I had to say.

"I do not know the full situation with the idol being lost and the entire griffon population here in the nation losing everything nor do I do know just how bad everything is in general. So what I need you to do is to tell me everything, leave nothing out and I will need to know what techniques are being used in the creation of the iron and steel here along with any other metals that are being melted down. I may not have been born here nor am I a full-fledged citizen but I will be damned if my home will go down the shitter because of unfavorable circumstances."

The look on her face when she heard me agree to help her was priceless, her eyes were all sparkly, beak agape, and her wings were outstretched. Don't know what this means since I don't know griffon body language but I can guess that she is happy that I am giving in a bit and am willing to help her nation out of the gutter.

What happened next was a bit of a blur for me, the princess got up and flew to the door, she poked her head out of the door and started to tell the guards a series of orders, telling them to gather various pieces of information on various topics, anything and everything was brought to her room and as more and more scrolls came in I realized just how badly screwed over these griffons were. From what I saw just by the stacking of the scrolls, books and other pieces of parchment, I saw that it not only ranged from their metalworking and farming but also their textile, fishing, and so many of their industries they once had under their control was now nothing more than a shadow of its former self.

I got my work cut out for me this time.

Seems like my simple life of being nothing more than a retainer for a princess is about to expand to being the forerunner for all future technological advancements that this world will ever see. I can just see it now that the world's balance is about to tip out of favor of those that have been kicking the griffons down for all these years will find themselves on the receiving end of the beat down.

Sorry for the long wait, was in both a bout of depression and writers block hit me like a brick shit house but now I am back and will be trying to shell these out sooner rather than later.