Battle for the North
by Roman Prokofiev
Rogue Merchant
Book #4
Magic Dome Books
Rogue Merchant
Book #4: Battle for the North
Copyright © Roman Prokofiev 2021
Cover Art © Vladimir Manyukhin 2021
English translation copyright © Sofia Shcherbakova 2021
Published by Magic Dome Books, 2021
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 978-80-7619-253-9
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the shop and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is entirely a work of fiction. Any correlation with real people or events is coincidental.
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Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
Interlude: Pandorum
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Interlude: The Admins
Chapter 4
Interlude: Northerners
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Interlude: Cey-Rus
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Interlude: Phantom
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Interlude: Yamato
Chapter 13
Interlude: Panther
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Interlude: The Admins
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Interlude: Vera
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Interlude: The Watchers
Chapter 20
Interlude: Revenge
Chapter 21
Interlude: The Admins
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Interlude: Agasyan
Chapter 24
Epilogue
Chapter 1
AS I APPEARED in the center of the Condor clan hall, a busy crowd surrounded me. I had never seen so many people in the castle: it was like a market square on a festival day. Birdies scurried in the air non-stop, and astral ships moored to the berths, bringing in more and more groups of players.
I was pushed back from the castle respawn circle by the newly arriving Watchers. Someone was logging in every second, and the raid already numbered more than eight hundred people. Slightly annoyed, Balian spoke on the common Courier voice channel, probably repeating the same thing for the hundredth time.
Balian the Raccoon: Raid composition’s pinned. Gear and armor contracts are for the entire alliance. PM me when you’re ready. I’ll check your equipment and assign you to a group.
Brontosaurus: I don’t see any heavy armor contracts. Only leather and cloth remain.
Balian the Raccoon: What do you mean? Was everything already taken? Three hundred sets? Who else has the rights to clan storage? Damian, HotCat, make a hundred more alliance contracts.
Jeez, they found work for me as soon as I logged in and opened Courier. Cursing inwardly, I pressed on through the ring-shaped gallery around Condor, simultaneously opening the clan storage interface and stamping out contracts based on the template in the pinned message.
It was an interesting selection. On top of basic Healing Potions, Antidotes, Regeneration Potions, and elixirs of resistance to various types of damage, there were unusual oils adding light damage to coated weapons. I had never seen anything like that used in PVP raids. There was also a set of rare scrolls: Eagle Eye, Arrow of Luck, Spirit of Archer — powerful buffs increasing range of fire and damage. All four pieces of armor were blue with bonuses to Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity. That’s what I had bought at the Bazaar per the Watchers list. The most curious thing came at the end: besides basic arrows, the package contained masterwork items: darkwood shafts, mithril tips, each with a powerful blessing given by a true priest of the gods of Light — unique ammunition crafted by two blacksmiths. I was starting to realize that this raid was going to be far from conventional.
Balian the Raccoon: What do you mean, not enough money? Are you a noob? Borrow from the clan. You’ll get compensated after the battle, standard terms!
Each contract cost fifty-five hundred gold — quite a bit, but such was the bare cost of a raid set. Standard compensation meant that after the raid, a player could return the gear to the clan and get the money back or, in case of losing the items in battle, get compensation. As for why everyone had to wear the same equipment, I had a general idea — the raid leader had to know what each combat unit was capable of, what DPS they could deal, and what buffs or spells they could use. Tactics depended on that.
After dealing with the contract, I quickly changed my own gear and messaged Balian. Without a word, Raccoon moved me from the main channel, buzzing with hundreds of voices, into the sixteenth group, where I was happy to discover the nicknames of Valkyrie, Flame, Nico, and AlexOrder. Balian’s head was really like a conference room — how did he manage to remember which of several hundred active players worked well with each other? I would have never pulled that off. Not everyone could look at a bustling shouting crowd and see a cohesive raid system composed of various groups. I reassured myself that thousands of lines full of auction lots probably looked just as insane to a raid leader. To each their own.
Finding a group in a castle teeming with players turned out to be harder than I expected, even despite the marks on my map. I hugged Alex, shook Flame’s and Nico’s hands, and got an air kiss from Valkyrie.
Komtur: Who jumped to Fairs through the clan portal again? Come back, [censored]! Cut it out, people. There was no order! I said, scouts only!
Komtur: All right, guys, stop screwing around, follow orders! Gather in the castle; nobody goes there!
A commotion, a clutter, swearing in the chatrooms... Almost
