Suppression

When Fran uttered this long string of words, not a single mage present dared to utter a sound.

This is because many people have already seen through the inside story of this matter. Since this new leader wants to fight with Master Owen and the others, then let them fight it out.

These insignificant people have no say in this matter; after all, it doesn't matter to them which side wins.

If they stand with Master Owen, they won't get a share of the profits they obtained by violating the rules.

If you're on Fran's side, she's unlikely to receive any financial or promotional benefits after everything is over.

They should stay out of conflicts where there are no rewards and choosing the wrong side can lead to repercussions.

If Fran were to fabricate some absurd reason to frame the mages, they might actually say something.

However, they knew from the beginning that this matter was orchestrated by that mage, Owen, and now that Fran had made trouble, naturally none of them would step forward to refute her.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Just then, Iris noticed the conflict and walked over, while Fran immediately rushed forward.

"Boss, it's like this..."

She briefly recounted the events to Iris, but didn't explain the details at all, because it wasn't important.

Before Fran could utter the last word, Iris spoke up.

"You're right, I'll go contact the Mage Tower's guards right away..."

This scene turned Owen, the mage watching from the sidelines, green with rage, and none of the other mages dared to stand next to him at that moment.

He watched as the guards quickly approached, verified the identities of the mages, and then took them all away.

The entire process took less than ten minutes and ended abruptly, during which Owen made no move.

He knew that even if he voiced his opposition now, few mages would stand up for him, because in their eyes, he was already waging war against the two new leaders.

Even though Fran's doubts were somewhat unfounded, Iris's identity was simply too great. She came with a special identification token and claimed to be leading a top-secret mission from the School.

His statement will not only fail to change anything, but will also allow Iris to quickly establish his stance.

Even though he had already suggested to Iris that Fran's identity be questioned.

But he was, after all, just an ordinary Propulsion Department employee who cared about processes and safety, which is why he did it that way.

If he speaks out on this matter, it means that his stance is absolutely not biased towards Fran and Iris.

He even suspected that they might casually put him in solitary confinement as well.

"I can't retaliate anymore; any further counterattacks would be suicide," Owen thought to himself.

If he were to retaliate, he might very well be sent to solitary confinement by Iris, where he would be left to his fate and wait for things to unfold.

The loss of three members from his core group is a severe blow to his power, as he only has enough trustworthy people within that group.

He didn't trust even those mages who had signed contracts with him.

Because the interests have already been distributed within the small group, people within the group will not betray him for the sake of those interests.

However, those mages who merely signed contracts received very little benefit, and it is estimated that many of them already harbor resentment.

Having brought them in, Owen had serious doubts that the moment he obtained a large amount of evidence, they might turn against him.

Many mages don't oppose them now simply because they haven't yet obtained evidence that they've violated the Mage Tower's management regulations; even if they were forced to sign contracts, at most they could only be imprisoned for ten years or so.

If what they're hiding is exposed, it won't just be a matter of restricting their freedom; they'll probably all be executed immediately.

"We need to find some new allies and reconnect with our partners within the Mage Tower."

Knowing that he had lost three helpers, he was in a difficult position to do anything, so he could only take more conservative actions to ensure his safety.

He had previously obstructed the investigation in every way possible because, in the end, the investigation would uncover what they had done with the inscription group, and that would be a capital offense.

He thought that by not cooperating, he could make Iris back down, but he didn't expect that Iris seemed to have received a death order and was relentlessly pushing through the Propulsion Department's inspection.

Now that things have come to light, it's only a matter of time before the truth is revealed. Before that happens, he needs to clear himself of any involvement and avoid being implicated.

"What a pity, I quite like this place. After this, I probably won't be able to go back to the Mage Tower no matter what." He sighed softly, wanting to walk towards the elevator device.

Unexpectedly, Iris immediately stopped him and warned him:

"Master, it is working hours now. Please return to your post immediately."

But I need to go out and take care of some things.

"Now that I've taken over the Propulsion Department, you must obey my orders. Once my work is finished, I can let you operate outside for a month."

Iris's expression remained unchanged as she began to paint a rosy picture, even though she estimated she would have to leave after the mission was over.

Owen's face stiffened, and he could only sigh and obediently go back to work.

Inside the Felistin Manor on Mercury Avenue, a rather special guest was arriving at this moment.

Oliver, the head of the Felistin family, received Kiran Burns, who had rushed over, in the banquet hall on the third floor.

Oliver was somewhat resentful of the arrival of this member of the Burns Family, whose family was considerably smaller than the Felistin Family.

Furthermore, when the Felistin Family was targeted, the Burns Family behind Kiran cut off all contact with them. But when things took a turn for the better, this person sent him a request to visit again.

For the sake of his family's interests, he accepted the request, just in case the other party was genuinely sincere this time.

Even so, Oliver's attitude towards Kiran wasn't exactly friendly; he just didn't give him the cold shoulder.

Upon arriving at the banquet hall, he let Kiran find a chair and sit down without making any polite gestures.

Kiran seemed unconcerned about such treatment, and instead casually began to talk about something very significant for their Mage Family recently.

"Oliver, a complete ban on Territory Mage has been issued..."

Oliver simply nodded and said slowly:

"I already knew that. It doesn't matter, because this whole thing has never benefited Felistin in any way."

Kiran said to himself:

"This is simply a dream. I thought the Territory Mage, not a complete ban."

"Now, anyone who wants to become Territory Mage can only wait for the upcoming operations of the Battle Mage Corps on the Ocean. Based on their Battle Merit, they can qualify to become Territory Mage."

"I suspect that the number of Territory Mage will not be very large in the end, and the identities of those who exchange for them will be restricted. I guess the Battle Mage Corps just wants to test whether this new Profession is worth promoting."

Oliver didn't respond immediately, but instead asked:

"So what are you doing here today? You didn't just come to complain to me, did you? That's not good for the Burns Family's development on Number Nine Floating City."

Oliver's words were somewhat harsh, but Kiran just smiled and didn't take them to heart.

"Oliver, I know you're a little resentful that you're forbidden from doing this good deed, but you're taking all the blame for the bad ones..."

"But what I want to say is that other families in our family have also lost a lot of money on this."

"Let's not even talk about those projects that are popping up everywhere. We invested a lot of Gold Coin, and although a large portion of them were eventually returned, the initial preparations still caused us to lose a significant amount of money."

"Also, we made a special invitation to that mage ' Lai ' at the Silver Dragon Dinner a few days ago, and prepared countless things for him. Because the matter was urgent, each of our families contributed a considerable amount of money."

"But in the end, we didn't get any particularly useful information. Perhaps that information would be of some use to the researchers, but we originally just wanted to build a good relationship with Mage ' Lai '."

"But now, it seems all our Gold Coin have gone down the drain. Apart from the researchers, I don't understand what benefit there is in seeking out that mage ' Lai '."

Kiran paused for a moment, then said something that resonated with Oliver.

"In this matter, the only beneficiaries are those monks who flaunt their projects, those who claim to have exclusive information but refuse to reveal it, and the monk who wrote this Paper."

"Family mages like us end up with nothing, and even lose money. Wasn't this Paper supposed to change the future of the Alliance?"

It will indeed change the future of the Alliance, but it won't change the future of these family mages.

All affairs of the Territory Mage have now been handed over to the Battle Mage Corps. It seems the Alliance is determined to expand the Territory Mage population through Battle Mage.

Perhaps those newly appointed Territory Mage will form new families, or perhaps the Alliance will introduce new policies to restrict distrustful families.

But no matter what, it's unlikely that these families will be able to get in.

Kiran's words softened Oliver's stance somewhat.

After all, the Felistin was targeted from the very beginning, and they didn't even invest much money in the projects of those Territory Mage. So, in all things considered, the Felistin Family's losses were relatively small.

At this moment, Kiran finally revealed his purpose.

"Oliver, I'd like to talk to you about that Mana Telecommunications System."