Joan was about to ask Harding about the surrounding factions when one of his men hurried in and said the Wolf Gang had sent a messenger.
"Why the Wolf Gang!?" Harding went pale.
Joan was puzzled. "You know them?"
"The Wolf Gang is a major gang across this whole region. Their boss, the Wolf King, runs things around here. We all have to pay him taxes..."
"What taxes?"
"You don't know?"
Joan looked utterly blank. "Should I?"
She had only just arrived and hadn't taken a penny, so of course she didn't know about the taxes.
Harding explained that after the previous boss sold the coal, he split the money five ways: one share for taxes, one for the Oyster Gang, one for the Wolf Gang, and one for himself. Only what remained went to them and the laborers.
With that many people taking a cut, Joan suddenly felt the Coal Mine wasn't nearly as profitable as she'd thought...
No wonder the Slave Trader had asked, "Are you sure?" when she said she'd pay everything back in ten days...
"Is the Wolf Gang one of the Grand Lord's forces?"
"Not that I've heard..." Harding shook his head.
Joan counted on her fingers. "So I have to pay taxes to the Grand Lord, tribute to the Oyster Gang, and protection money to the Wolf Gang... Doesn't that mean we're working for them?"
"Boss, people would fight tooth and nail for the chance to work for them!"
Joan had already planned how she would repay the money and spend the rest on weapons, armor, and food. Now two-thirds of her earnings had vanished. She wasn't having it.
"Is this Wolf King that hard to deal with?"
"They say he's an Elite Warrior who knows Combat Arts, and he has five or six