Three days passed in careful normalcy.
Rey continued operating Helt's Scrollworks exactly as before—same prices, same service, same carefully cultivated reputation. He gave no indication that anything significant had occurred, that any invitation had been extended.
His enslaved workers maintained their routines. Customers came and went. The neighboring merchants greeted him with their usual mixture of friendliness and mild envy at his success.
To all external observations, Modred Helt was simply a merchant conducting business.
But internally, Rey was preparing.
He spent his evenings reviewing everything he knew about criminal organizations, drawing on both the Sunlit Order's intelligence and his own observations of how power structures operated.
He analyzed potential scenarios, planned responses, anticipated traps.
The underworld didn't trust easily. They would test him, probe for weaknesses, try to determine if he was genuine or a threat.
