{Rumors}

Author Note:

Hey everyone, I've finally made it to 10 chapters. While it might not sound like much since it's my first story it's an accomplishment for me. I would like to ask if you all could give me your thoughts on the story so far in the comments at the end of the chapter. It'll help going forward in this story and the other idea I've been playing around with. Well have a good day and stay safe.

End Author Note - 

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As the sun rose a young red-haired stopped running at the edge of a village and began walking towards a large building that had smoke coming out of it. 

Many other villagers also began walking towards it as they rubbed their sleepy faces. 

The moment that the large double doors of the building were open a strong scent of stew hit their noses. They all lined up and one by one their meal was served and handed to them so that they could sit on one of the long benches. 

As they ate in the corner of the room they could see a neat lineup of strange products. 

"Neil, do you think that you could help me and Buer carry the load of weapons that we want to trade? Yaret has quite the haul this time." 

Neil looked at Kalo who was the younger of the two smiths and nodded, "Sure, I don't mind. I was about to ask him about the fox pups." 

Kalo turned around and saw a pair of caged fox pups. 

"Oh is our little Neil feeling lonely after he moved out of his house? This is why I'm telling you that you should find a young lady to court. At your age, you should already be married! This is what you get when you spend all your free time among us adults."

'Get married at 16? While this isn't my old world marrying a teen doesn't sit well with me. What's worse I grew up with all the girls my age, it's like asking me to marry a family member. Not that we're close since hanging out with a bunch of kids wasn't all that fun." 

Now that he was the same age that he had been when he was alive Neil felt more relieved and free to act as he wished. 

"Let's see Nary is still available and she's quite the looker, why not try to see if that goes anywhere?" 

Neil gave Kalo, the man close to his 30s a disgusted look. 

"What?! I was just saying that the two of you could make a good couple."

He simply shook his head and finished his stew, "I'm not interested in anyone so let's leave things at that and let's go get your things." 

After they had brought all the tradeable goods the two brothers were willing to get rid of and he had grabbed his earnings the group made their way back.

Yaret a blonde man near his 40s welcomed them with excitement upon seeing the pile of weapons. 

"Ah! My favorite smiths in this whole wide world. I see that your extravagant work has done nothing but improve. I have to say Master Neil even the gods have to recognize how amazing your art skills are." 

Neil smiled and rolled his eyes as the merchant continued to be such a kiss-ass. Out of all the merchants that he could remember there had never been one that didn't exaggerate everything and well he can't blame them. After all, they have to make sure that keep a positive relationship otherwise their business could be taken away by another. 

"Say Yaret, what can you tell me about those little foxes?" 

Yaret eye's seemed to shine when he heard Neil. 

"Oh, they were a gift from a tribe that is located north of here in the icy planes. I was told that it's a custom of theirs to give visitors a male and female fox so that they can breed. They believe that a goddess called…..well, I don't remember her name. It's said that she can see through the eyes of these types of foxes so by gifting them to visitors they can expand her horizons and provide her with more entertainment." 

"Is that so…..but isn't it problematic to have siblings breed? I believe I heard that it can cause issues with the litters." 

The merchant nodded, "You are very knowledgeable young sir, breeding two siblings can indeed lead to complications. That said I was told that these are not from the same litter so it'll be fine." 

Neil nodded and inspected them closer, they seemed to be well-fed and cared for. 

"How much for them?"

Yaret rubbed his chin as he thought, "Well since it's you young master how about 5 large gold coins for both of them?" 

"5 large gold coins? Well if what you say is really true then it sounds like a fair price. I've never seen a fox with a greyish-white coat after all." 

The merchant nodded and pointed at their fur, "It actually becomes white when the great god Hodur freezes the sky and sea." 

'Right, it's an arctic fox so their fur would shed into a thicker white coat during winter.' 

After paying the man he began playing around with the young foxes. He was tempted to let them out of the cage but if he did and they began running it would have been a problem.

As he played with the foxes, the two Smith brothers began trading their finished works for even more metal and tools. As they chose what they wanted and were willing to trade for what they talked with Yaret and asked him about his travels. 

"After I took a drink in the Market's bar I found the very man from the rumors haha. That monstrous man who supposedly beat more than 200 men turned out to be nothing more than a sack of bones. Not only that but he was beaten by a drunk blind man right in front of me hahaha!" 

All four of them laughed, "That's usually how things go. Still to think that they were able to exaggerate their strength and to have so many people believe it." 

The merchant nodded and wiped the tears that had been spilled after laughing so much. 

"Still as hard as it is to believe there is an even more unrealistic rumor that has been going around. There's one that has been saying that a village east of here has managed to tame dragons. Can you believe that hahaha, to be able to live with dragons as their pets? Man, I can't even begin to wonder how this Berk rumor came to be haha." 

Neil took his hand out of the cage and slowly turned to look at the man who had started to talk about something else. Neil felt his blood run cold as he heard what the man had said.

Finally, after 16 years of waiting some news of Berk had arrived. The place that might just have some clues as to how or why he was brought here. 

"Wh…What did you say?"

The three of them turned around in confusion and were surprised when they saw the look on his face. 

"Uh….That I came upon a tribe where only women were allo….."

"Not that! About Berk!" 

Hearing his yelling the chatter in the village hall died down and everyone looked at him.

"Um Berk? Well, the rumor says that…"

"Where is it?!" 

"Ah, it's about a 3 weeks sail from here…."