"I am aware of the situation within the city."
In the empty hall, Neustadt sat lazily in the black, luxurious City Lord's chair, casually waving his hand at Faber standing in front of him.
Faber stood respectfully, glanced up at him briefly, hesitated, then lowered his head and continued to emphasize,
"Lord Neustadt, recently, the number of wizard control incidents caused by the research of witchcraft has multiplied several times over, causing significant damage..."
"I will convey your suggestion to them," Neustadt replied indifferently, cutting off Faber.
'Of course, just conveying...' Neustadt slightly raised his brows, looking at the earnest Faber in front of him, but he couldn't muster any enthusiasm.
Had it been before, he might have personally conducted an on-site investigation in the city.
If he had verified that Faber's information was true and useful, he might have even taken the initiative to help.
However, now... Neustadt simply continued indifferently,
"If there's nothing else, you may leave."
Just a few uncontrollable wizards.
"Very well, Lord Neustadt."
Faber looked up at Neustadt once more, nodded silently after a pause, and then turned to leave.
Behind him, Neustadt quietly watched his departing figure, his eyes as calm as an ancient well.
...
May 12th in the Yanan Calendar, early morning.
It had been five days since the purchase of the Coldthorn Flower.
Colin came to the study and was reading today's Supreme Council bulletin and the city's newspapers.
"Wizard Research Management Regulations... A new decree issued by the Supreme Council?" Colin raised his eyebrows as he picked up the bulletin.
Ever since the stalemate in the frontline battles, the bulletins from the Supreme Council had mainly been about trivial matters, sometimes they weren't even issued.
He hadn't expected such a significant bulletin today... Though he hadn't yet read the details, any decree was undoubtedly important to the whole society.
Colin glanced again at the other newspapers on the desk, and, sure enough, half of the headlines were related to this new decree issued by the Supreme Council.
From the looks of the titles, the Supreme Council seemed to want to bring all wizard research under control.
'That won't be an easy feat,' Colin thought first.
In the Wizard World, privacy is much more sensitive compared to his previous world; many places like auction houses, the Transmission General Bureau, still haven't implemented real-name systems.
Now, to bring the even more private wizard research under management, the difficulty of that could be imagined.
However, there were no such things as human rights in the Wizard World, and a societal structure maintained through coercion, in some respect, was particularly stable.
If the Supreme Council wanted to enforce something, as long as they were determined, there was nothing they couldn't do.
Colin shook his head, picked up the bulletin, and began to read carefully.
"Effective immediately, wizards in Neustadt who conduct research must voluntarily report..."
After a moment, having read the Supreme Council's bulletin and several related newspapers, he had come to an understanding.
Although the Supreme Council had issued a research management regulation, the regulation itself wasn't strict; it merely required basic reporting of information.
At the same time, for the knowledge research that was reported, wizards could apply for some Magic Stones or knowledge subsidies after passing some reviews and signing usage contracts, if they wished.
Moreover, this management regulation mainly targeted wizards below the Third Rank; those above weren't required to comply.
And for School Wizards, they did not need to report to the Supreme Council but to their respective Schools, which would then possibly report to the Supreme Council collectively—Colin guessed, but it wasn't specified in the bulletin.
As for Wandering Wizards, they were required to report to the Law Enforcement Team.
If a Wandering Wizard refused to comply and was discovered, the penalties could be as light as a fine or as severe as expulsion from Neustadt, and they might even face imprisonment.
The punishments for School Wizards were to be determined by their respective Schools.
And one more thing, arguably the most important—determining the location of the research.
From now on, if wizards wanted to conduct knowledge research, it must be done at a designated research location.
Research conducted in other places would be considered illegal.
Although it was a specific location, this place could also be one's own home or another experimental site, but an application to the School or Law Enforcement Team was needed in advance.
If the previous requirement to report the basic information about the research—essentially just the Ability Level, things like First Rank or Second Rank, along with an estimated danger level—are just minor regulations,
then this rule about determining the research location is what genuinely ensures that the Council can bring witchcraft research under some control without causing too much dissent among wizards.
Colin put down the newspaper and deeply furrowed his brows.
This new decree, to some extent, had made his research more inconvenient
... He also didn't know what information the Supreme Council had obtained to make such a decision.
Colin sighed softly.
Unlike other wizards, many times, even if he wasn't researching witchcraft, he needed to go to the True Knowledge Society's laboratory to practice witchcraft.
Ordinary wizards didn't need such extensive practice, and if people knew, it would be easy to spot abnormalities, not to mention that he had now advanced to the Second Rank.