Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 462: Slapping in the Face (Part )

Being assigned to the Golden City, the capital of the Saint Valen Kingdom, which had just experienced the baptism of war, and being responsible for rebuilding the Federation branch... For Chuck Lawrence, a research mage who had just been promoted to a high-level position, it was like a huge pie falling from the sky.

Although Fran McCaughrean, Head of the Department of Magical Affairs, intervened and snatched the position of mission leader, the actual reconstruction work was still handled by Lawrence himself - and it was naturally he who stayed in Golden City as the branch head.

What made him most secretly happy was that he was about to take over a clean "shop" where the Glorious Church and the royal nobles had all been cleansed out. There would be no more constant troublemaking from the church priests, and no more frequent picking on the court mages... Lawrence even suspected that after the eccentric northern lord evacuated, he would be the only high-level spellcaster left in Jinhui City.

This kind of comfortable treatment where one can do whatever they want without being restricted at all is probably something that no city branch manager in the southern countries has ever enjoyed.

Of course, people tend to become more difficult to satisfy after gaining power, and the newly promoted magical politician Lawrence is no exception... He had planned it out before coming here. Since the external "enemies" of the Federation in Jinhui City have been completely defeated, it is natural that the management goals need to be turned inward and the internal operating regulations need to be sorted out.

After all, concentrating power in one's own hands can better demonstrate one's management ability... Perhaps if one performs well for a few years, one can return to the Alayeh headquarters as desired, be promoted to the Magic Council, and have a valuable seat in the Hall of Truth.

Lawrence's plan was very careful - first he would reopen the magic academy that had been sealed by the church and the nobility, and recruit teachers and students again in the name of a branch. As for the position of dean... naturally he would take on the position reluctantly as the general manager of the branch. In this way, all magic apprentices who graduated from the academy would be known as his students in the future, which would greatly enhance his reputation in the magic world.

There is also the Alchemy Exploration Society, which has always followed the Federation's lead. They were also implicated in the civil unrest in Saint Valen this time. Several laboratories and alchemy workshops they built in the royal capital were destroyed. Sigh... It would be better to directly incorporate these weak alchemists into the branch's jurisdiction system. It would be best if the workshops and laboratories were set up under the Federation's branch industry. Anyway, alchemists are not good at business management... I can also take this opportunity to add an income source to the branch, which can be said to be a win-win choice.

However, the news he suddenly received early this morning made him feel a little hard to accept.

The Northern Lord who was a spellcaster actually had a sudden idea... He wanted to establish a new spellcaster organization called the Academy of Magical Sciences in the royal capital, and would work closely with the branch of the Federation in the future as a pilot operation for the future "New Federation".

What did "New Federation" mean? Lawrence didn't want to dwell on it. The approval document from Alayeh headquarters did mention that the Jinhui City branch must unconditionally cooperate with all instructions from the Northern Lord. But what did it mean to suddenly form a spellcasting organization to compete with the Federation?
Lawrence could only think that the other party did not intend to let the Federation monopolize all the spellcasting talents and magical resources in Jinhui City... He found it a little funny. On the surface, they had already cooperated with the Federation, but privately they still took such a defensive posture. This lord of the northern border still looked like those independent spellcasters, short-sighted and narrow-minded.

Forget it, let's wait until his child's play Magic Academy is established... Then we will naturally know that in terms of attracting talents and resource capabilities, this unknown makeshift organization has no way to compete with the Federation that spans the entire southern continent.

Just as Lawrence was daydreaming, a clerk suddenly rushed into the branch hall, which was under renovation, and reported to him, "Mr. Director, that... that Northern Lord is coming to our branch! Mr. McCaughrean from the Ministry of Magical Affairs is accompanying him."

"Huh? What is he here for?"

The clerk was stunned for a moment, then said dryly, "He said he brought that... member of the Magic Academy's headquarters to visit the branch for an exchange."

Lawrence shuddered, his spirits lifted... Oh my! This guy was trying to intimidate him!

"Gather all branch members and follow me to welcome the Mage Lord from the North!"...

Harvey had originally planned to walk to the Federation branch in the inner city of the royal capital, but unfortunately, the inner city had just experienced a series of bombings and buildings had collapsed everywhere, and the roads were narrow and blocked... In order to avoid causing riots among the residents of the city, he could only reluctantly take Arturo and others who had just arrived and take a floating airship directly down from the sky.

This was a good opportunity for McCaw, who had never tried to ride an aerial vehicle, to experience a different way of flying.

Before the airship landed at the Federation branch, Northern Army soldiers armed with magic guns had already arrived in formation. They surrounded the entire branch rather rudely and tried to enter to search it, almost causing an unnecessary conflict between the two sides.

When Harvey and others got off the airship, they happened to see the awkward scene of tension between the two sides. They couldn't help but nod slightly to Mr. Fadun with some apology, and the other party could only shrug in helplessness.

Lawrence stood at the branch's gate with a serious expression, quietly reminding his secretary and assistant, "Although we're both spellcasters, we should still address him as 'Your Excellency the City Lord' in formal situations. Don't be too casual... He's not just an ordinary independent spellcaster, he's the lord of an entire city."

The deputy was a proud young mid-level wizard. He curled his lips in disdain. "How can a spellcaster obsessed with worldly power be qualified to be our colleague? I won't pay him any respect as a wizard..."

As Harvey and his group slowly approached, Lawrence heard McCaughlin speak first. He introduced the new branch director with a smile, "This is Mr. Chuck Lawrence, the new branch director... Like us, he's a research-based spellcaster."

Lawrence stepped forward, bowed slightly, and said gracefully, "Your Excellency, welcome to the Federation branch... Director McCaughlin arrived first, so we, the latecomers, haven't had time to meet you in person."

Harvey hummed, then turned to McCaughlin and asked, "I heard the branch is planning to reopen the two closed magic academies?"

"It seems there is such a plan... Director Lawrence is in charge of this matter personally."

"Excellent!" Harvey suddenly laughed, his eyes blazing as he looked at Lawrence. "I plan to merge the two magic academies in Jinhui City and make them subsidiaries of the Academy of Magical Sciences... In the future, successful graduates with outstanding performance and talent will be able to continue their studies directly at the Academy!"

What? This sentence immediately caused a commotion among the people in the Federation branch.

Lawrence was stunned for a moment, then recovered and realized what was going on. He clenched his fists and couldn't help but stand up and object, "Your Excellency, I'm afraid you can't act so rudely! This is completely against the rules!"

(End of this chapter)