Technical Review Committee

Translator: Cinder Translations

...

In the iron cage, a small, thin figure huddled in a corner, hands clasped over its head, trembling all over as if a great fear was pressing down on it.

This was a humanoid creature, with hands and feet, but it looked rather shriveled, and its ears were long and pointed.

"Truly incredible!"

In the courtyard of the lord's mansion, Paul stared blankly at the creature in the cage.

Tirpitz, who had sent a fleet south to help the kingdom defend against pirates, had sent him a gift—a creature called a "goblin."

For Paul, this was the first time he had seen a so-called "fantasy creature" with his own eyes, even though he had already heard from others that this world had dwarves, elves, and orcs, and he had personally experienced magical battles between mages, even standing next to a real witch.

Now, a life he had only seen in anime in his previous life suddenly appeared before him.

"It's unbelievable! I thought they only existed in legends."

Not just Paul, but other locals from the Northwest Bay were also astonished, as goblins had never appeared in the Northwest. Hansel and Bernard, two guys from the capital, appeared much more indifferent, perhaps silently mocking their colleagues as a bunch of country bumpkins.

Of course, there was Ladia Setia, a biologist with several years of adventurer experience. Goblins were not unfamiliar to her; many novice adventurers started their careers by hunting goblins.

"Lord Grayman," she said, frowning slightly, her tone serious, "though this creature looks pathetic, it is actually very dangerous. We must not let it escape; if it gets into the nearby forest and spreads, the consequences could be dire."

Paul was puzzled. He looked at Ladia, "I've heard of the goblin's bad reputation, but there's just this one goblin here. If it escapes, how could it… spread?"

"Yes!" Ladia maintained her serious expression. "There have been several such cases in history; scholars speculate that goblins may have the ability to reproduce asexually."

"This…" Paul was speechless. How could goblins be considered advanced creatures? Could they really reproduce like paramecia?

"Alright! Philip!" Paul called out.

"Lord Grayman, you called for me." The old butler appeared promptly in the courtyard.

Paul pointed at the goblin in the cage. "Later, kill this thing and feed it to the dogs."

Although it was a gift from Tirpitz, the letter from them also mentioned to "dispose" of it immediately after the novelty wore off, so there was no need for concern.

"Uh... yes, Lord Grayman," the old butler replied.

If the legends were true, this creature had a very tenacious vitality, and Paul didn't dare to just dig a hole and bury it; what if it sprouted back up? After all, in some magical universe, there were green-skinned beings whose dandruff could grow into offspring just by falling to the ground. And this was also a world with magic, so it was better to be cautious.

The little creature in the cage seemed to sense its tragic fate and suddenly burst into loud sobs.

Paul remained unmoved, waving his hand for someone to carry the creature away. "If only it were an elf girl in the cage instead."

As for a goblin? Better forget about it.

Having seen the novelty, it was time to deal with serious matters.

"Gentlemen, the reason I've gathered you here today is to review which technologies can be shared externally."

Paul led the group to the hall and made this announcement as they took their seats.

"To be honest, Lord Grayman, I do not support sharing our technology with others. Canned food, ceramics, salt production, and papermaking are the main sources of our revenue. Why let others take a share?" said Cecil, the intelligence chief, shaking his head in disagreement.

Paul explained, "Cecil, here's how I see it: the principles behind our current technologies aren't particularly complex. It's only a matter of time before outsiders replicate them. Over the past few years, we've invested a lot of manpower and resources to keep these technologies secret, deploying people to every workshop for strict supervision. But as more and more civilian workshops use these technologies, it's becoming unrealistic to keep them secret. The strict supervision is also severely hampering production growth. It would be better to open them up sooner rather than later. Of course, this openness will come with conditions—outsiders must join our patent protection system and can only use these technologies with our authorization. Similarly, if outsiders have any good technologies, we would need their authorization to use them."

"I agree with you, Lord Grayman," said the female advisor, Ladia. "Perhaps you could lead the establishment of a 'Patent Protection Alliance' as a preliminary step toward a 'Customs Union.' This won't directly affect the interests of rural landlords, so they won't have a reason to oppose it. We can use this as a starting point to gradually expand our influence and also gain some experience in running such an alliance."

"A Patent Protection Alliance? That's a good idea," Paul said, clearly interested.

"In fact, one of the reasons I support opening up our technology is to drive development in the surrounding territories. Only when everyone's economy becomes active can we hope to reduce tariffs between each other. Otherwise, if we're the only ones prospering, they'll just tighten their borders even more. Plus, we'll face less envy."

After a round of discussion, the majority, including Old Ford and Hansel, agreed with Paul's decision. Even Cecil, though still harboring many doubts as the intelligence chief, no longer objected.

Paul stroked his chin and said, "This needs to be put into action immediately. Malon?"

"Hmm?" His ally sitting next to him turned his head. Although Malon Ganard didn't speak much at these meetings, Paul always involved him when discussing important matters.

"Your Ganard family has good relations with the lords in the northwest bay area. How about you talk to them this time?"

"Alright, leave it to me," Malon agreed cheerfully. "But you better be clear about which technologies can be shared and which can't."

"Of course, I'm not a fool. We're certainly not giving away cannon manufacturing technology, are we? That brings us to the second reason I called everyone here today. I've decided to establish a 'Technology Review Committee' specifically to evaluate the technologies under our control. The committee will carefully consider all aspects—especially security—before deciding whether a particular technology can be shared."

"Lord Grayman, you're wise as always. Please, let me contribute to this committee," Hansel eagerly chimed in, leading the charge to flatter Paul. Hansel was always keen to strengthen his presence in the Administrative Council.

(End of the Chapter)

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