Lena left before dawn.
Rook didn't escort her. He didn't give last-minute instructions or warnings. He simply watched from the watchtower as she slipped past the boundary string and disappeared into the trees, moving low and quiet like she'd done it a hundred times before.
He marked the time.
Then he went back to work.
By the time the sun reached its peak, the farm timer ticked lower, and the sound of hammer against wood echoed through the valley. Rook reinforced joints, adjusted angles, corrected small inefficiencies that would matter later.
The System chimed softly.
[Scout Unit Returned: Perimeter Entry Detected.]
Rook looked up.
Lena stepped into the clearing, mud on her boots, face unreadable. She dropped her pack by the cabin wall and didn't sit until he gestured to the table.
She waited.
Good.
"Report," Rook said.
Lena reached into her pack and spread a rough map onto the table—hand-drawn, charcoal and dirt smudged together. Trails marked in clean lines. Xs circled in places that made Rook's eyes narrow.
"Three active guild zones within five kilometers," she began. "None of them have claimed territory. They don't know they can."
Rook nodded once.
"Two are fighting over a shopping district. One calls itself Iron Fist. Loud. Overconfident. Poor night security."
She tapped another mark.
"This one's quieter. Smaller. They're stockpiling food and ammo. Watching people instead of fighting monsters."
Rook's gaze lingered on that mark.
"Any movement toward here?"
Lena hesitated—just a fraction of a second.
"Not directly," she said. "But rumors are spreading. People are talking about a place in the forest where monsters don't cross the line."
She met his eyes. "Someone's going to come looking."
Rook studied her carefully.
"You leave anything behind?" he asked.
"No," she replied immediately.
Too immediately.
The silence stretched.
Rook didn't accuse her. He didn't press.
He simply nodded and reached out, tapping the Territory interface.
[Scouting Contribution Logged.]
[EXP Gained.]
Lena's shoulders relaxed slightly.
"Food's ready," Rook said. "You eat. Then you rest."
She stood, hesitating.
"For what it's worth," she added, voice low, "I didn't lead anyone here."
Rook looked at her.
"I didn't ask," he said.
She left the cabin without another word.
Rook folded the map carefully and set it aside. He stared at the marked routes, the quiet guild, the distances measured too precisely to be casual.
Outside, the valley remained still.
Inside, Rook updated his mental models.
Assets could become threats.
Information always cut both ways.
And Lena—
She was useful.
For now.