A week had passed since the Windguides defeated the Iron Fist Gang and completely took over their territory.
"Over the past week, we have taken over, dismantled, and reformed eighteen brothels, eleven casinos, and fifteen Shimmer shops previously run by the Iron Fist Gang. We rescued 101 male sex workers and 696 female sex workers. We have also taken in 501 beggars, vagrants, and addicts, along with 621 thugs, enforcers, and gang members, while liberating 4,087 enslaved contract laborers."
"For our next step, we plan to subject these sheltered individuals to ideological education and labor reform. By providing vocational training, we will help them re-enter the workforce in factories so they can earn their own living."
"..."
At the Windguide General Association meeting, Lina acted as the spokesperson, delivering this report to Levi and the other attendees.
"In the past, these people relied entirely on the Iron Fist Gang to survive. Aside from the slave labor trade, the gang's business revolved around nothing more than loan sharking, prostitution, gambling, and drugs."
"We plan to completely eradicate the underground industry chain that the Iron Fist Gang established in the Zaunite Community. In the future, we will use the existing Hextech audio workshop as a foundation, relying on the technical patents provided by Professor Viktor to gradually build a Hextech industrial cluster. Ultimately, we will transition from an illegal underground service and financial sector to a mid-to-high-end manufacturing industry."
"..."
"Over the past week, our recruitment and propaganda efforts have also been steadily advancing. The Windguide Association has grown to 412 official members, while the Windchaser Association now has 2,011 official members."
"The number of Janna's believers is growing at an exponential rate. I believe we will easily surpass our goal of ten thousand total members within the next month."
"..."
In just a short week, the number of Janna's followers had multiplied several times over. Consequently, the power wielded by Levi and Janna had also grown exponentially.
The Iron Fist Gang that previously ruled the Zaunite Community had been nothing more than leeches sucking the blood of the people.
After wiping out those parasites, the Windguides did not just preach empty ideals of democracy and freedom only to run away and leave a mess behind.
Instead, they solidly established sub-branches and branch associations from the grassroots level up, replacing the old order with a strictly organized new one.
Without the Iron Fist Gang's unsustainable, exploitative rule, the people's livelihoods naturally improved, and society became much more harmonious and stable.
However...
After sharing all this good news, someone at the meeting was ready to curse.
"We are out of money! We're broke, do you understand?!"
As the only person among the Windguides who had been a business owner and actually knew how to make money, Ivern slammed his hand on the table right in front of Levi.
"Levi, oh, Levi."
"Can you stop being so idealistic before doing things and look at the reality of the situation?"
"Lina's report just mentioned it. The contract laborers, sex workers, and gang members who previously relied on the Iron Fist Gang to survive add up to five or six thousand people."
"You liberated all five thousand of them in one breath, but what are they going to eat?"
"Do we have enough jobs to offer them? Do we have the money to feed all these idle mouths?"
Ivern put on a look that clearly said, 'You don't know the cost of running a household until you're the one paying the bills,' glaring resentfully at President Levi and Vice President Viktor.
The last time they were looked at with such disdain was when they impulsively decided to raise the wages of the apprentices.
Viktor felt a headache coming on under that stare and helplessly agreed. "Mr. Ivern is indeed correct."
"Although the production lines at the Hextech audio workshop have been successfully retrofitted for emergencies, allowing us to mass-produce cassettes and Walkmans for the market..."
"Even the most optimistic estimates suggest that after this Hextech audio workshop turns a profit and expands production, it will provide a maximum of one thousand jobs."
The only factory under the Windguides' banner could offer at most a thousand jobs in the future.
And that was in the *future*. This 'future' was at least a month or two away.
If they wanted to invest in building new factories, the time required for research, financing, construction, production, marketing, sales, and finally turning a profit would be even longer.
Not to mention...
"Building new factories costs money too!" Ivern cursed angrily. "You went and shut down all the damn profitable brothels, casinos, and Shimmer shops, and now we have five or six thousand extra mouths to feed—"
"We'll be laughing in our graves if we don't go bankrupt! Where are we supposed to get the money to expand production and build new factories?"
"Uh..." Levi was left speechless.
He could hear that Ivern was accusing him of biting off more than he could chew.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Levi asked humbly.
"Well... I know you are all idealists with moral purity." After some deep thought, Ivern offered a stopgap solution.
"You definitely wouldn't be willing to open brothels and Shimmer shops like the Iron Fist Gang, making money off human suffering and trading lives for coin."
"But I think we can absolutely keep running the dozen or so casinos the Iron Fist Gang left behind—now hold on, what I mean is, we reform them to a certain extent while keeping them open. We can require guests to verify their funds at the door and set an entry threshold."
"That way, we only allow the wealthy from Piltover to enter and spend their money, while keeping the commoners and the poor safely outside."
Only scamming the rich and sparing the poor. Rounding it up, running a casino could almost be considered robbing the rich to feed the poor.
The casinos could also conveniently solve employment for a batch of people, alleviating the massive job pressure currently facing the Zaunite Community.
Ivern's proposal actually seemed to have some merit.
"No, absolutely not!" Even knowing they faced immense financial difficulties, Levi firmly objected.
"Our strongest weapon isn't money; it's our ideology."
"Goddess Janna's flawless image is our greatest asset."
The Windguides' greatest reliance was Janna, and Janna's power came entirely from faith.
If people found out that he, Janna's Chosen, was taking the lead in running casinos and promoting such crooked practices, what would the believers think of him?
This would undoubtedly have a severely negative impact on Goddess Janna's image.
"You have a point."
Ivern agreed with Levi's perspective.
But he threw his hands up and asked, "So our ideals are intact, but what about our meals?"
"Tell me, how do we get the money?"
Levi remained silent.
Right now, the Windguides' Walkman project had yet to turn a profit, and money was flowing out like water.
And where was all this money coming from?
Levi had originally planned to ruthlessly shake down the local tyrants after defeating the Iron Fist Gang, scoring a massive windfall.
The Iron Fist Gang had operated in Piltover for years; the ill-gotten wealth they hoarded should have been substantial.
With that massive sum, it shouldn't have been hard for the Windguides to survive this difficult transitional period.
But Levi never expected...
The Iron Fist Gang simply didn't have that much money.
Their business was huge, but most of the money they earned went to paying tribute to the people backing them.
The money Avery had left for himself was nowhere near what Levi had imagined.
At the very least, it was far from enough to keep a community running long-term.
In the end, the Iron Fist Gang was destroyed.
But all they left for the Windguides to inherit was a destitute, smog-choked Zaunite Community with neither industry nor capital, littered with brothels, casinos, and Shimmer shops.
It truly was a colossal mess.
"It will still take some time before the Walkman project hits the market and turns a profit."
"Right now, the money we are spending is all coming from my own pockets and Miss Caitlyn's family."
Ivern sighed helplessly, his face full of heartache.
"The fortune I saved up over all these years has been squandered by you in just two weeks. And the money Miss Caitlyn's family provided probably won't last much longer either."
"Levi, you really need to figure out how we are going to survive!"
Levi remained silent.
He finally understood how the Caucasian bandits were born.
After only half a month on the job...
He wanted to go rob a bank too.