The brainstorming that Eraclea and I have done the previous day has borne some fruit that for the time being is all that I can hope for and grasped onto for now.

High King Guto, long may he reign, has looked over the ideas and proposals that the two of us have created and out of all of them, he gave three of them an immediate green light of approval while the others would have to wait for the moment as the griffons didn't have the means of creating and/or replicating humanities accomplishments, didn't have the funding to get it all off the ground, or that he just couldn't gamble with it to get the nobles on his side for it to be let through.

Apparently while the Guto is the High King and can easily rule the country with an iron claw and do whatever the fuck he wants to do, the things that we were trying to do was placed on nobility property and lands which needs their approval and supervision, some of which were the very same griffons that hate me with a fiery passion with the intensity of a thousand suns. While he could have easily forced the nobles to bow to his will and enact whatever edicts and proposals his heart and mind desires, but they would never forget the act of tyranny he has done so whenever they see that he is slipping from grace they could use that as an excuse to remove him from power, as Tazul tried to do when he found out his daughter was out of state and that the kingdom was almost one step away from internal annihilation.

So with a heavy heart and a slight flurry of heated words about how some nobles should go fuck themselves or get that barbed stick out of their backsides, Eraclea and I was allowed only three proposals to move forward so we had to pick carefully on what would best help the griffons population the most.

I went with the fishery and the sawmill, while it may take several months or even a year for it to truly bear fruit for all to dine on it holds the most promise in my eyes that it will help the local population not only be able to have enough food to then be able to sell to other neighboring villages and towns along with being able to supply themselves with their own lumber, but also give them something to be proud of. And as for the sawmill, it will need to be powered by a river or a windmill for it to function. I wasn't really expecting the princess to pass on this one but from what she told me that by giving the griffons a means of suppling themselves with their own lumber and other wood products, we wouldn't need to purchase our lumber from the equestrians or from the minotaurs. By being able to produce and refine our own lumber into precious planks, boards, and other wood materials, we can become a powerful competitor as the forests in the kingdom are mighty and old so the wood is better if not superior to the four-legged grass munchers wood or the stubborn bulls up north.

For Eraclea, her picked proposal was a rather large one, she grabbed several blueprints that I had freshly recreated and told me that her choice was to modernize the griffons budding industry. With those Industrial-Revolution Era blueprints and schematics in her talons, she will not only jumpstart the empire's economics but also with those plans she will also start the process of creating industrial-grade equipment for agriculture, lumberyards and mining quarries.

Then we got ourselves the third proposal, the king picked this one himself as he saw it as the most important over all the others.

The invention and production of quality folded steel.

Although I loathed as to what this can be used for I sort of had to give it to the king, I saw the iron weapons that the guards are using alongside with their armor and it is poor quality and in barely-managed conditions. When I went down to the armory to check on the weapons and armor to see just how bad they are and what I have to work with, many of the weapons have spots of rust on them and the suits of segmented armor had dents and scratches on them that haven't been mended and hammered out. This was just the stuff that was made here, the weapons and armor that came from Minotauria on the other hand is top-tier quality, it is like the blacksmiths and armorsmiths take pride and shower their projects with love until the very end, I really have to applaud them because this is something that I actually envy because if we had some of those smiths over here, teaching the griffons their ways and methods then we wouldn't have to spend a dime on buying their quality goods.

But sadly since that isn't the case, I have to improvise and recreate the methods that humanity used in the past and I am currently debating between using the European methods or the Japanese methods.

Looking over several documents about the multiple forging process and about the forges themselves, I was looking over the pro's and con's of which forging process to pick for the griffons and so far it looks like the European medieval is winning me over. While I would love to see the griffons running around with katanas, they already have the undertones of the europeans with their nobility and life styles.

Grabbing all of the relevant files I began to copy them down piece by piece which took me roughly at least five hours to do, copying the words down was easy but recreating the pictures and trying to properly scale them was what took me the longest to do but in the end I safely say that I did not do a mediocre job of recreating this important piece of human knowledge for the griffons.

With human knowledge in hand and no time to lose I briskly walked toward the armory to present it the one in charge.

I never met the master that was in charge of the armory nor have I even heard of them up until now so the race and gender is completely unknown but it feels me with excitement that I get to meet someone new who hopefully doesn't hate my guts just for being a knight and a foreigner. Climbing down two flight of stairs and a hallway that looked like it hasn't been dusted in months I soon heard the tall tell sounds of hammer on metal and the occasional break in the tink tink tinking for a reprieve before getting back into it and resuming their work..

Walking past a quartet of guards, all of them marching in unison but a bit faster than normal, almost as if they are afraid of whoever is down there and probably for a good reason but for me I could care less if they are rude as hell, if they can get the job done in a decent timeframe and not fuck up then they are okay in my book.

But seeing how that their current work is shoddy at best and that I wouldn't trust them to make me a knife that cant even cut through bread if their current creations are of any indication.

Upon entering what I can only assume is the castle's forge chamber I instead found a lone griffon slaving away at a piece of metal, hammering away at it, trying to get it to the perfect shape but from here it looks like it is in vain because not even after a few swings the blade snaps in half. In a display of pure anger and rage I watched as the forge master took the broken half still being held in the tongs in their grip and threw the piece back into the furnace to be melted down before turning their attention to the other piece that lies sitting on the ground all the while grumbling under their breath.

"Bloody hunk of shite, why wont it stay together...what am I doing wrong that even those damnable grass-munchers can do right? Those little shits haven't been in a war in over half a century and yet their blades are far sharper and better then ours and their armor...how in the seven hells is it so much better than ours!"

Waiting for the griffon to simmer down I gave them a good minute before stepping into the room and cleared my throat loud enough for them to hear it.

"I see that you are having trouble keeping your blades together." I said as I step further into the room, my eyes inspecting everything it can, mainly eyeing the swords that are completed and are hanging on the racks, the pieces of armor that are whole and intact, these pieces must be before the curse hit them all because they have yet to show any signs of rust or decay amongst them all.

Staring up at me and glaring with all of their might, the griffon forge master simply stares at me before putting down their hammer before walking over to me and finally away from the shadow of the furnace and into the light of a torch I saw exactly who this forge master was.

It was a fairly normal sized griffon, nothing out of the ordinary about them with the exception that they are coated in dust from what might be coal and that are also coated in sweat because I can smell them from here. From the chestnut brown fur and reddish feathers, this griffon was as normal-looking as some of the griffons I have seen wandering around Griffonstone.

"What brings the dog knight to my forge? Got bored of clashing with wooden swords with that old withered cunt of a hen and wanted to see just how shite our situation is? Well tough news runt, we are up shite creek in a leaky canoe and our only paddle just got eaten by a cragodile." the griffon said and boy, this guy is as salty and rough around the edges as a sailor or someone that has a hard life.

"Not a diamond dog and I am off duty at the moment so I dont have to worry about her beating me upside the head with that hunk of wood that she likes to call her discipline stick." I said as I continued to observe the griffon pull out what looks like a flask of sorts out from his blacksmithing apron and took a swig from it before putting it away.

"Uh huh, not a dog and I do not care, what brings you down here to my foundry? Here to see just how bad everything is, to criticize my work and mock me like the other brownbeaked nobles?"

"No, in fact I was instructed by the king to deliver upon you the secrets of human blacksmithing and how to forge better metal that far exceeds that of the minotaurs and ponies." I said as I picked up the hammer that was left on the anvil and felt the heavy weight of it and I must say it matches the descripted weight for it.

Taking another swig from his flask the griffon walked right up to me and took the hammer from my hands before eyeing me again, this time taking measure of my height, posture and stance.

"Better metal huh, I doubt anything can beat minotaur steel or pony magicked iron unless you can find us a vein of mythril to use but even then it would just be a waste." The griffon said in a defeated tone, almost completely resigned to being cursed to forge inferior and inadequate iron until the end of time.

Putting my hand to my mouth in an almost question fashion, I give the forge one last lookover before finalizing my thoughts on the matter.

'My king gave me the order to improve the royal forge's production through the knowledge of humanity, and with what I am seeing he wasn't kidding that it is direly needed. And to think that my job in upsetting the world's balance was going be a monumental task was an understatement, it is almost downright impossible.'

Staring at the somewhat drunkard of a forge master I take the flask from his talons and snapped it shut before putting it in my pants pocket, all the while glaring down at the little griffon that was almost two sheets to the wind who returned the gesture with a glare of his own.

'But if I can pull this off, reverse the griffon's fortune and make them a world power again, who knows what else I can accomplish with these birds indebted to me?

"Well Forge Master, it is time for you to stop being a drunkard and to lay down that hammer to properly learn how humanity has evolved its production of metal into an industry that rivals that of the minotaurs and equestrians!" I said as I went to the one table in this entire room that wasn't covered in shoddy blades and soot and placed the several dozen scrolls that I have written and drawn on, all of them in fine details on how us humans have forged, produced, refined and designed our tools of war and peace throughout the years.

"With this gift and the time it will take to teach you, you and your fellow forge masters will make blades sharper and far more durable than your minotaur counterparts, and as for those equestrian weapons, why we might even find a way to surpass them in magical arms given enough time and resources." I declared with a fist bumping against my chest, humanity prided itself on its industrious nature and its ability to never give up against the odds, and if humanity was stuck on this world, we would have eventually come up with the means to produce magitek to even the playing fields against our more magically adapted enemies.

Wobbling now on his paws n claws, the griffon hobbled over to the table and grabbed one of the scrolls and unfurled it, his tipsy eyes looking at the details on the page and for a moment I actually thought he was going to puke all over it and make me rewrite the whole thing, but instead I was surprised when he seemingly nodded at it put it down.

The smell of booze was strong as it finally hit me as the griffon hobbled over to me and placed a talon on my forearm, seemingly trying to either catch his balance or to give me some sort of brotherly trust or whatever the hell he is trying to do but for now it would seem he is trying to get my attention which he fully has as I am praying he doesn't spew all over my pants.

Forcing down what I think is his pride and his stomach, the forge master gave what I think is a griffon smile as he speaks up and for the time being, it is kept between just the two of us.

Over the next five hours the both of us discuss about the new furnace and smelter design, the two of us pointing out the changes and the vastly superiority over the griffon design and as we were about to finalize the design so it can be constructed, the forge master made the modification to a blank scroll that for the basin at the bottom of the furnace to be wider and deeper. I at first thought that it would compromise the structural integrity of the design but when I saw that the changes he made would be partially be underground, the crank on the side of the container that will be holding all of the molten metal will be used to pour the metal down a funnel once it is ready for pouring.

Looking over the new design and seeing if there was any flaws in its creation, I was actually amazed that there wasn't any to find and with that being said and done I gave the forge master my approval of it and by tomorrow morning the stoneworkers will be hard at creating Griffonstone's first blast furnace.

Now I just pray that my other projects can all go as smoothly as this one.

The Next Day

The lower portion of the castle has been busy over the past twenty-four hours, as it turns out when the forge master is drunk off his ass, some of his finest works are accomplished and it was to my shock and somewhat amazement that the sword I got from my knighting ceremony came from this griffon while he was nearly blackout drunk.

I first thought that him being a better blacksmith while drunk was bullshit and full of lies but when I saw him pouring over the scrolls I left behind for him and I was amazed that there wasn't any puke on them nor was there any booze splotches on the parchments as well. When I made my way back down to the forging chambers I saw that a bunch of workers was moving things out from one room, clearing It away of old crates, rusted weapons and armor, and other pieces of junk that no longer had any use.

Peering into the nearly empty room I saw the forge master leaning over a wooden table, several scrolls laying on it, all of the scrolls are open and the one on top was the one he was pointing at while instructing the stone masons that were near the back of the room were working, busy putting together what looks like a new furnace and smelter, there was pipes leading into the room and they were located on top of the stone masons. Turns out those pipes were there so the smoke has a place to go and exit the castle so it doesn't suffocate whoever is in the chamber working.

Noticing me staring at him and the new forge and smelter being made he waved me over and I accepted his request for me to go over and when I did I saw that he made some modifications to it. One of the changes I saw that he made to it was what looks like a set of bellows that seem to work in tandem with each other, from what I can see that when one bellow goes down and blows air into the furnace and smelter, the other one fills up with air and vice versa. Another change that I see is that the smelter was given thicker walls.

Looking over the changes I can only smile as I see a spark of clarity and ingenuity in the forge master's eyes, although the idol made them forget everything they once knew, the knowledge I am giving them is replacing what was lost and I hope that this time that nothing takes it away from them.

"My friend, I see you are looking at the changes I have made to your kin's design for the furnace and smelter, I must say this closely resembles ours but yours is much more efficient and it also looks like it also can contain much more liquid metal than ours ever can. With this vast improvement I do believe that my apprentices and I can produce quality metal with this and as soon as you can teach me the means of producing a stronger metal than we too can start producing this stuff in vast quantities!" the rough-around-the-edges griffon said with a wide grin on that beak of his, I still don't know how the hell beaks can bend like that but I am not going to be questioning seemingly mythical creature biology right now, I am going to say that they can bend their beaks because of magic or some shit.

Casting my gaze back to the furnace and smelter I can only imagine that those outside these borders will be watching us as the production of steel comes pouring out of here and be wondering and quite possibly questioning how such a strong alloy is being made. Spies and bribes will surely be coming our way and for those with big enough balls they even try to either kidnap me for that knowledge or even kill me off so that the griffons lose all access to human knowledge and technological advances.

Returning my attention to the forge master, I see that he is waiting for a response and when he saw that I was too busy looking his shoulders sagged a bit as he thinks that I disapprove of the changes that he made but I return my attention to him and placed my hand on his shoulder and smiled a bit.

"I approve of these changes, the double bellows will certainly keep the fires stoked far longer than a single bellow. I also approve of the larger basin, now I just hope that your workers make sure that not a drop of metal is wasted and we will see from there if you are worthy of being taught the power of steel and the strength of folded metal." I say this as I move over to the table and looked over the scrolls I left over for him to review and go over, I saw that two of them were missing from the pile...

'Already we got a spy amongst us...just my fucking luck that someone here has been bought by a foreign power.'

As I was thinking to myself, my mysterious benefactor and resurrector decided that now would be an appropriate time to pop up and give me their two cents on the matter.

Oh yes indeed, one of the griffon's in this room has been paid off by a very interested person that wants what you have and is willing to pay a pretty penny to get it, even if it means stealing it directly from you and those you give this knowledge to.

'So would it be bad if I hold everyone in this room hostage and search them one by one until I find the one with the stolen documents?'

Nope! Go right ahead, I'll be watching it all unfold and relish in the chaos that will unfold as the fool tries to find a way to get out of this situation with the prize in hand. It is within your power to detain griffons that are acting suspicious or have already committed a crime and are on the run, don't you even read your new position of power before even trying to use its gift of authority?

'I doubt being a knight comes with an instruction manual or a book detailing on how to be a knight.'

You would be surprised on what the races on this planet have created to tell others on how to be certain professions or how to do certain hobbies.

'Uh huh...well then...let's get this show on the road then, the sooner I catch the traitor, the sooner I can get back to what I was doing.'

You mean going back to your room and jerking it?

'Oh piss off! It was one time that I tried to blow some steam and you just had to be watching me and saw into my mind to see who I was using as inspiration.'

I must say, those human females you are interested in all seem to have a hefty backside and large teats, is that your preference in a mate or were those humans just eye candy to you?

'I feel as if this is a loaded question and that whatever I answer will come back to bite me in the ass so I will instead refuse to answer it out of saving my own skin.'

I will get an answer of you eventually little human, your discomfort is most enjoyable!

And like that my mysterious benefactor faded from my mind and left me back with the seven griffons in the room, all of them was now looking at me, a few with concern written clearly on their face while others were indifferent.

When I came back to reality after having a mental talk with my benefactor and slave driver, I was holding my head with my left hand and was leaning back at the doorway into the foundry, blocking the only way out of the room in the process.

"You okay there boy?" the forge master said as he walked over to me, I do not know if that look is of concern for me at this moment or is wondering why I was holding my head because I was seemingly disapproving of the changes that he made to the schematics.

Releasing my head and standing up straight I looked the forge master in the eye before muttering quietly enough so that only he can hear me.

"No, not really, seems like one or more of your workers have stolen from the me."

"What do you mean 'stolen' from you? All of the scrolls are there!"

"No, they are not all there. I left fifteen scrolls detailing the construction of the furnace, smelter and the construction of the tools needed to work them alongside the construction plans for the work table and I count three of them missing."

"Which ones were taken?"

"The plans for the blast furnace, that thing is superior to the one you have been using for whoever knows how long alongside those before you and those outside of Griffonstone. The way you and your predecessors were smelting down raw ore and sand took days to do and sometimes even then the end result was shoddy. With the blast furnace and the extreme temperatures it can achieve thanks to its design and use of layering charcoal and limestone mixture will easily melt down the raw materials for the production of quality metal ingots."

"Now imagine that getting into the hands of the minotaurs, the equestrians, or even the diamond dogs, the minotaurs already produce a strong metal for their weapons and armor but with the blast furnace they will be able to achieve an even higher quality of metal that will make them even harder to beat and will raise the prices on what they sell to us. If the equestrians get it then with their magic and whatever else they use to enhance their equipment, if we get into a war with them for whatever reason then we will be up shit creek without a paddle. And if the diamond dogs get their hands on it...they can already burrow underground and ambush anyone on the ground with impunity, do you really want to see them armored up in top quality iron? Or someone much worse that we don't know about..."

The forge master gave me a look of 'who could possibly be worse then those three?' and raised an eyebrow to further accent on that unspoken question. Looking up from the griffon before me I see that the workers have all completely stopped what they were doing and was now watching me.

Rolling my eyes that the cat is about to get out of the bag I just mutter to the forge master just what I was thinking of.

"We never got all of Tazul's accomplices, there are still those that have tried to usurp the king that are still on the loose and if they get their talons on these blueprints then the moment we let our guard down then they will pull another coup but this time they might just succeed." and that was all that was needed to light a fire under his ass because he immediately went into action.

Maneuvering behind me I heard the heavy iron door get slammed shut and as I turn to gaze at the seven workers who are now startled and are quite possibly wondering what the hell is going on, I take a step forward to address them all.

"One of you here is an enemy of the state sent forth from either a foreign power or are in accord with the traitor Tazul. Now I do not know which of you is the traitor among us, but what I do know right now is that the traitor in this room is carrying the evidence of his treasonous act with them." I stalked slowly through the room, never once letting my eyes off of any of the griffons standing in the center of the room.

"May I remind you all committing an act of treason against the crown is punishable by death, and if you have a family, they too will be punished as well if we believe them to be an accomplice to your crimes. While I loathe to use my authority as a knight of the realm I will do so in its defense and to ensure that nothing foal befalls it." I said as walked over to the table and picked up a crowsbeak hammer before turning my head away from the door to wait for anyone to make a run for it.

I didn't have to wait long for the culprit to make a run for the door because the moment I left my gaze from the door, the third griffon in the line made a break for it. Pushing his fellows out of the way and running towards the open door with the ripped scroll stuffed into his work vest.

Turning around and seeing the griffon about to breach the threshold of the door, I reeled back and threw the crowsbeak hammer, the pointed beak-like end facing forward, and as it sailed through the air towards its intended target, the griffon got through the door only to let out a squawk of pain as the pointy part of the hammer embedded itself between the would-be thief's wing sockets.

One thing I later learned that day is that striking a griffon, pegasus or even a hippogriff between the wing joints is not only enough to cause them extreme pain but also leave them temporarily unable to fly as there is a nerve cluster located there and striking that spot can also paralyze them for a few minutes.

With the thief down for the count I strolled over to his twitching, writhing body and kneeled down and flipped the worthless bird over and removed the parchment from his vest before placing it back on the desk.

"To think that you would risk execution for not only yourself but also your family if you have one at all, for money." I said as I grabbed the griffon by the back of his neck and started to drag him off towards the dungeons. Looking over my shoulder towards the forge master I shouted that we can finish our talk another time and the burly drunkard of a griffon nodded at me before returning his attention to the rest of the workers and had them all back to work.

Casting my gaze down at the griffon I had just beaned in the spine with a sharp hammer I could only shake my head in disappointment that someone would be so stupid and try to steal one of my ideas then my disappointment turned into anger, to think that Tazul would still be trying to get the throne with underhanded tactics and political maneuvers even when he is imprisoned and set to be executed by the end of the week.

He must be planning something or have others waiting to get him out of prison before his date with the executioner's blade if he is still pulling strings in the darkness.

Soon enough I reached the dungeons I entered the room to find the head warden was at the front desk talking to the desk jockey and when they saw me with a squirming griffon in my left hand. The four guards in the room turned their attention to me then to my prisoner before returning back to their passive stance.

"Any reason as to why you are holding one of the stonemason's in your left paw?" The head warden asked me as he walked over to me, the warden himself was wearing a uniform consisting of a purple and grey vest with a dark grey cloak covering his wings, emblazoned on his vest was a house sigil, one of House Goldstone, one of many noble houses that did not like me being knighted.

"I caught this bastard trying to steal one of the forge master's blueprints, a gift from the king no less." I said as I walked up to the desk and slammed the griffon onto it, making the little shit squawk again.

The pair turned to look at the slightly resisting griffon for a moment before turning their gaze to me, they know that I am an anointed knight and that I have the authority to detain and arrest anybody if I have any proof or evidence to go through with the arrest and seeing how I and eight other griffons, one of those griffons being the royal forge master himself, there is no way in the seven hells that this griffon is going to get off scot free.

"Trying to steal from the royal family eh? You must be the unluckiest runt of the flock to even think that was a brilliant idea let alone a viable one! Don't worry sir knight, we will take it over from here, Kluas, take our newest resident to his new home." The warden said as the desk jockey gave a half-assed salute to his boss before getting up and picking up their newest prisoner and disappeared through the heavy iron door leading into the dungeons.

With the prisoner and the desk jockey gone, the warden gave me a nod before going back to his office which just so happened to be next to the prison itself, leaving me alone in the room besides the four armed guards whom of which was now eyeballing me as if I was a common criminal.

Not even going to bother with asking them if something is wrong I turned around and left the prison before returning back to the forge master for we have much to discuss and perhaps with not a lot of time to do it in.

The ensuing discussion I had with the forge master detailed what I have planned for the workshop and it entailed an overhaul of the likes these griffons have never seen before. With the installment of the coke ovens to the coal they have stored away into a much more powerful fuel for the blast furnaces, coke. Coke is a grey, porous, high carbon content used as fuel furnaces, and as a fuel for stoves since most if not all of the smoke-producing products in the coke has been burned/melted away.

You see, these griffons for the most part use charcoal for their smelting processes because they have so much of the stuff due to living in a land that is predominately a thick forest so they have enough to be made into charcoal, and as for coal itself they have a large stockpile of it but ever since the diamond dogs have moved into various areas, primarily where iron and coal deposits are located alongside gemstone mines, coal is becoming a high priced commodity until the dogs are either forced into retreat or eliminated.

And seeing how these griffons burn through coal due to not having the proper knowledge, by teaching them how to make coke and how much to use in the smelting process, I am hoping that they will soon be able to maintain and sustain themselves on low amounts to get the job done.

"So Master Wilkinson, with these two different ovens and furnaces we will finally be able to produce our own steel which if your words are to be believed, it will be superior to that of the minotaurs and equestrians and that we will no longer need to purchase it as such an inflated price from either of them, am I correct on that assumption?" the forge master, whose name is Gerolt after finally telling me when he eventually became sober enough to be truly coherent enough to be understood, said that as he looked over the stonemason's work on the coke ovens that are currently being constructed.

I gave the man a nod before pointing out what needs to happen next in the coke-production process.

"When the coke is finished you shovel it out, let it cool off then when it is time for the blast furnace to be put into use, you use this instead of coal or charcoal for a hotter flame and a harder metal." I said as I went over the layout plans for the refurbished smeltery chambers with the forge master, the layout itself had us empty out several unused storage rooms that held rusting pieces of metal and rotting crates to make way for the coke ovens and blasting furnaces.

The smeltery itself will occupy two rooms instead of one, when the liquid metal is transferred here through the channels leading from the blast furnaces it can then be fitted into a shaped mold and be poured into them for a faster production of metal shapes. With the molds properly shaped and the metal poured into it we will be able to crate metal plates and blades of all shapes and sizes, making it easier on us in the long run.

"And this coke of yours, you say it is far better than the coal we have been burning?"

"Yes, several times better and as an added bonus, it doesn't produce the choking clouds and fumes that coal produces when it burns. A ventilation system is still needed but you don't have to worry about your lungs getting corroded from the inside out from coal inhalation." the head griffon raised an eyebrow at the mere mention of 'lungs getting corroded' but he didn't stop me in the middle of my talk so I can guess he either knows this or has no clue on the matter.

"With the coke oven and blast furnace working in tandem you will be able to produce steel at a fairly fast pace and when it is time to test our steel against theirs we might be able to see just whose is stronger." Now if only we had samples of the weapons and armor of the other nations to test our steel on, if ours is stronger than we best not let them know about it, but if ours is weaker than I may have to delve back into my laptop to figure out what I did wrong.

Looking at the numerous ovens and furnaces that are in mid-construction the forge master gave me a nod and thanked me for my assistance in both the gift of the steel designs and for capturing the treacherous thief.

With that I gave the nod to the burly drunkard of a griffon before leaving the forge chambers and left, returning back to the princess's room to check up on her and when I got there it turned out that she wasn't there and that I was told that she has left the castle earlier this day and went to the hills that she was assigned to transform into a cluster of terrace farms. Acknowledging the guard and thanking him for telling me this news I instead returned back to my room, changed my clothes to my outing attire and went to the local bar to get drunk and have fun with my two griffon friends.

Thinking back to what Greta said on her favor, I am wondering exactly when she is going to call it in because in about two weeks I am going to be heading off to the province of Shadhlvail, a region that borders against Equestria and is also the place where there are several rivers that connect to the ocean, the main one being the Guto River.

With the princess staying close to Griffonstone to do her little project while I am roughly going to the other side of the kingdom, I am wondering how my friends here will deal with me being absent, I guess Scrawny will be occupied with an instructor or two teaching him how to read, how to talk properly and maybe even also how to fight properly, Gilda and Greta will most likely be bored out of their minds and will be doing their jobs, Gilda will cook her scones and whatever else she bakes for a living and Greta...I honestly have no fucking idea what Greta does to pay the bills so I am guessing fuck all.

Exiting the palace grounds and walking towards the Leaky Taphouse, my mind is busy planning on what to do, on what to show the griffons, how to show it to them, how to construct the fishery and how to ensure that the griffons at Guto River don't just eat every single fish that falls into the fishery and ruin my plans.

I just hope they haven't started drinking without me, and if they have then I hope they haven't drunk too much and are on the verge of either starting a bar fight or they start puking all over the floor.

Next Chapter: The Council of Griffonstone Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 30 Minutes