Chapter 267

Hiccups POV:

It's been four weeks since the dragon races and, in that time, things have been pretty busy for me on Berk since I was able to present some ideas for the races to my father and the council and got approval for each of them along with some new ideas. I spent an entire day with them going over the plans and discussing the uses with them just to show why I thought they'd be helpful when it comes to the races. Then we went on to discuss how to handle cheaters like the twins since we all knew it would take more than one simple punishment to get it through the thick skulls of the Vikings who cheat. Eventually someone recommended that they be banned from partaking in the next four dragon races which was agreed but another thing that was decided was to have a wall of shame where cheaters portraits would be placed for all to see and know the dishonorable actions. We'd been discussing a few other things as well such as awards for the winning team and came up with a feast in their honor and also placing their portrait on the wall of fame.

First thing we did was make a large horn to signal not only the beginning of the race but also to let the racers of the black sheep being released. This horn was made of bronze and designed to resemble a thunderdrum with a large mouth, but it had only two large legs and a serpent like mouth. This horn stands on a platform with a tall pillar that the end of the horn wrapping around it with the mouth being reaching a little above it with wooden steps in the pillar to allow the person who'll be blowing the horn to reach the top. Speaking of the black sheep, Snotlout had come up with the bright idea of a sheep launcher which would launch the black sheep up into the air for the racers to grab. Sadly, when he was working on his little invention, the sheep he was using to test it ended up causing a lot of trouble in Berk when launched. Doing the tests, it landed on Snotlout, landed in the hands of a man who was presenting some flowers to his wife so it looked like he was presenting it to her, ruining the moment, destroyed an apple wagon, put a hole in someone's roof, got its head stuck in the door of the Great hall, got its head stuck in someone's house and many more issues. Eventually we decided to use it when it comes time to launch the black sheep for the final lap of the race which would often be the deciding round.

These weren't the only things that were made to help the race though as I'd also designed a way to help keep score while also saving time on needing to remove the sheep from the baskets. The design I had was a long wooden bridge over the ocean just off the cliff overlooking the dock and this bridge had holes in it that the racers would drop the sheep in and inside these holes, were large ramps that the sheep slide down into sheep pens that were built onto a large wooden platform beneath the bridge. Above each hole, facing up were trapdoors which have the images of the dragons on them in different colors to show who was meant to score into. On the one side of this bridge was the island while on the other side though were viewer stands with multiple rows of benches going up for people to sit so they could watch everything with the people needing to cross the bridge to get there. In the center of these stands was a platform that had stairs leading up to it and on this platform were two wooden thrones for my parents to watch the races with tapestries of dragon riders on the corners with similar tapestries around the stands.

Along with this, I'd also built a large building like the food store house but unlike the food stores, this one was to display things from the dragon races including the walls of fame and shame. When a person walks in, on the left is the wall of fame which presently has a portrait of me and Fishleggs with our dragons and a plaque beneath it which read 'THE FIRST RACE WINNERS, HICCUP AND TOOTHLESS WITH FISHLEGGS AND MEATLUG' and on the right was the wall of shame with a portrait of the twins with Barf and Belch while beneath it with a plaque beneath it telling who they were and what they did. Hanging from the walls at the back were tapestries with the images of the dragon classes at the bottom while beneath these tapestries were portraits of me and each of the riders with our dragons with each portrait being on one shield. Beneath each one of these portraits were display cases with red velvet lining for golden pendants with a symbol of the class the rider's dragon belonged which would be given to the person when they win a race.

When one display case gets full, the coins from the others are emptied and the name of the person with the filled case gets their name put on a plate that is then placed on a tall pedestal twice the size of my father in height with large fire bowl on top of it. This set up was in the center of the room and to have your name placed onto the pedestal would be considered a great honor and give you glory long after you pass onto Valhalla. We had plans to bring in more pedestals for trophies for events we had yet to discuss but that was still being discussed among me and the council. One trophy we all agreed on was a trophy to the ones who were able to fill their display case which would then be put on display in a second room with five shelves, one for each racer to show their achievements.

Then there are the actual rules concerning the race that all racers have to follow no matter what or they risk being placed upon the wall of shame. To begin with, to ensure the only sheep that could count were Sven's we'd mark each sheep with a target with the color being different for each race and only my dad would know the color so when it comes time for the race, there wouldn't be any tricks like the first time. These sheep would be set out all over the village in different flocks to make it harder to spot them and only one sheep can be taken per lap making the games longer and more competitive. Anyway, once a racer has a sheep, the other races can steal it as long as they do not knock the racer with it off their dragon or seriously injure them and their dragon. This rule last bit was decided when Snotlout tried to steal the sheep I had, using his hammer to make me let go of the sheep, but I dodged and he ended up hitting Fishleggs instead. That did not end well for either of them since their dragons crashed into each other after the strike and both the dragons and riders were only out for two weeks but still, it was because of this that I wore my rhino helmet when racing.

Of course, with the races, things on Berk had been pretty exciting with us even inviting the Outcasts and the Berserkers to watch a few and as anyone could guess, it was a massive success. Dagur originally wanted to take part in it but that was the race where Snotlout and Fishleggs were injured and after seeing this, Mala forbid him from partaking since she didn't want the father of her child getting injured in front of little Tera who could now understand what was going on. Fortunately, Mala saw what Snotlout was up to and covered Tera's eyes before they impacted each other, saving her from seeing the painful scene but not from the crash that followed making her laugh surprisingly. Later when she saw Brant and Chara in a sparring match against some villagers which was more of a beat down for the villagers, she laughed as well which lead to me asking her parents if I should be worried about the obvious delight my niece takes in the violence to which Dagur replied 'It's just her Berserker blood'. This didn't put my worries at ease though and instead made me fear for the years when she'd be going through puberty since those were going to be violent.

Our allies aside we'd also got a few traders in who got word of the dragon races and had come to check them out in the hopes it would give them new stories to tell their customers. They were a little annoying with their requests for visits to my island and desire for me to train them their own dragons, but I think I got the message through to them when I was polishing my prosthetics large rotating blade. One of these traders did get my attention though since he had recently come into possession of many maps, books and scrolls that he was looking to trade. He was hoping to trade for some materials for clothing to trade to some customers he had who specialized in making clothes for people who liked to look good and wanted to show off their wealth. I showed him some of rolls of the silk Arachne makes and he sold me his entire stock of books, scrolls and maps in exchange for seven large rolls of the stuff in different colored dies. I was finally able to put another dent into the number of empty shelves in my library and now have a little more reading material to enjoy with some more knowledge to gain.

Anyway, aside from that, times had been peaceful which was fine with me since I was able to focus on my family and the inhabitants of my island. It was during this time that Blanca had begun to form a little bump to show she was pregnant and I took a great deal of both pride and pleasure whenever I felt it and could sense the new life growing within my wife. Still though whenever I did, I couldn't help but wonder not only if the child she was carrying would be a girl or a boy but also if the child would be human or a snake guardian. It honestly didn't matter to me though as this child would be my blood and I would love them no matter what since they were the first child my beloved wife Blanca has given me and I could not wait to see them enter this world.

Now I was in the Egyptian desert section of my island with my ninja while we watched my kids continuously try and run across the sand dunes that were constantly shifting under the command of my sand phantoms. The reason for this is my kids needed to learn to focus their weight to make their bodies light and make it easier to move and adapt to changing environment. This made the deserts shifting sands the perfect training grounds since with the sands softness it was easy to sink in while the constant shifting made it hard to maintain balance. The Ancient One had put me through similar training when I was training under him except in addition to the shifting sands, I also had to deal with strong winds blowing sand in my face and since he confiscated the eye of the dragon from me, it was near impossible to see.

I smiled in pride at how well they were doing since they'd made it close to the top multiple times only to be dragged back down but despite this, neither of them were giving up which is what made me so proud of them. Sadly, my moment of pride was brought to an end when the sound of wings flapping from behind me caught my attention and I turned to see Astrid coming down on Stormfly. I smiled at her and said.

"Afternoon milady." As she dismounted though, I could see the look on her face which showed she had something to tell me that I was not going to like so I sighed. "Alright, what's the news that you know I'm not going to like?" She stared at me for a moment before asking.

"How did you know I have news you aren't going to like?"

"Astrid, I've undergone immense training to read my opponents movements and an opponent can reveal a lot in their expression." I then raised an eyebrow as I asked. "Do you honestly think I wouldn't learn every facial expression my wives have so I know when to run?" She rolled her eyes. "So, what's the problem?"

"Hiccup, I know you don't like it when you're pulled away from the kids but a message just arrived from Berk, Chief wants you on Berk, there's a visitor who wants to talk some things with you." It was true that I didn't like to be pulled away from the kids since when the baby comes along, my time with my adoptive kids would be cut down so I need to spend as much time with them as I could.

"Did he say who it is, in the message?" She shook her head.

"Afraid not." I groaned in annoyance.

"That means the person is someone he knows is going to give me a headache and is afraid I'll come up with an excuse to avoid going to speak with the person, so he'll have to deal with them."

"So, what are you going to do?" I smiled at her.

"There's more than one reason I keep scouter automatons on Berk my darling leopardess." She gave me a smile and a playful growl while playfully slapping my arm.

"So, who's the visiting person?" I went through the eyes of my various automatons until I found who my dad was with and groaned.

"It's Chief Nigren of the Grown Hills tribe."

"Please tell me he didn't bring that bastard of a son with him or his wretched daughter." I shook my head.

"Doesn't look like it but I recognize the look on his face as one of his 'I'd like to discuss a possible business proposal' and from past experiences, it's going to be a headache." She groaned.

"Don't I know it; I've gone through some of those with you remember." I nodded.

"I remember Astrid and I also remember that time he tried to have you and the others try to convince me to join him on his business ventures when it comes to convincing the Arabian traders to do business on his island." She nodded.

"I had to threaten him that I'd tell you to banish him from the bazaar just to get him to back off." I nodded and looked at him through my scouters.

"By the looks of things, my dad's ready to do the same with how he's pestering him, but I wonder what he could want now?"

"Maybe, he caught wind of the dragon races and wants you to arrange a race on his island."

"The race would draw in a large crowd and with it bring a lot more people to his island, increasing business for his people while also bringing a little excitement into the lives of his people." Astrid nodded.

"So, are you going to go help your dad now or make him suffer a little more?" I smirked.

"Let's leave him to suffer a little longer for that request he gave Gobber concerning my first child born from my own blood." She smiled.

"You are too cruel at times babe."

"You know it my vicious jungle cat." She pulled me into a kiss and then pushed away before making her way back to Stormfly.

"I'll tell him the kids are going through a form of training that needs you to focus on them and it'll take an hour to finish." I nodded.

"Thanks Astrid." She and Stormfly took off while I turned back to the kids and watched them continue to try and get to the top.

1 hour later

It's been an hour since Astrid told me about Berk having a visitor which turned out to be Chief Nigren, one of my biggest headaches in the form of a chief who did not know how to take one no as an answer. In that time I've been able to see my adoptive children pass their training exercise while I also got a good laugh at seeing how annoyed my father was with dealing with chief Nigren trying to convince him to help with talking to me into accepting his new business deal. I swear, my father looked ready to scream to Valhalla in anger with a vain popping out of his forehead to show how frustrated he was that he couldn't do anything. The last time I saw him like this was when the Great Hall had a celebratory feast in which bad meat was accidently served, resulting in over half the village needing to use the outhouse but he got stuck at the back of the line and couldn't cut since he was meant to set an example for his people.

Now me and Toothless came to land in the middle of the village with everyone doing their own thing and just enjoying their day while doing their jobs or chores. I smiled at the sight of the village being so peaceful until my eyes landed on Gobber who was rushing towards us with a look on his face that said my father was not happy and he was sent to get me. I rubbed Toothless' head and said.

"Well bud, looks like my dad's not too happy with us for making him wait so long." Toothless crooned while looking back at me before Gobber rushed up.

"Well you certainly took your time getting here lad?" I shrugged.

"I was busy helping with Brant and Chara's training."

"Couldn't ya have left it to those ninjas of yours?"

"I could've but I like to spend time with my kids."

"Come on lad, you just wanted to torture your father a bit for trying to have me forge a weapon for yer wee one before they're out of diapers." I chuckled.

"You know me too well old friend." He rolled his eyes.

"Well you aren't going ta find it funny when your father gets his hands on you." I nodded.

"I know, but how's chief Nigren doing?"

"He seems to be doing well but came here to talk more business with you about something one of the traders who visit his island got from you when he came to Berk."

"Wonder what it is since we get a lot of traders who I do business with."

"You'll have to ask him yerself when you see him, he and your father have been waiting in the Great Hall for ya." I nodded.

"If that's the case then I better go greet them both before my dad pulls all his hair out in frustration." He chuckled and nodded as me and Toothless took off towards the Great Hall.

10 minutes later

We'd finally made it to the Great Hall, and I was now pushing the doors open with a smile on my face and Toothless at my side as I said.

"Alright bud, let's go take a look at what chief Nigren has come for this time." He crooned before I pushed the door open and found my father at the table in the middle, talking with chief Nigren who was sitting across from me, but they stopped talking when they saw me. "Hey there dad and chief Nigren." My dad stood up and began walking towards me.

"Hiccup, what took you so long to get here?"

"I was busy helping train Brant and Chara in a method that needed my full focus so I couldn't drop it to come." He reached me and leaned in.

"You just wanted me to suffer a bit, didn't you?" I gave him a smile to confirm his suspicions making him glare while I turned my attention to Chief Nigren and approached him with a forced smile.

"Chief Nigren, I am honored to see you again on our humble island, but I cannot deny that I am curios to know why you're here?" I knew it was because something a trader had shown him, but I figured it best to see how the bath house was doing. "Is there something wrong with the bath house that you need me to repair?" He shook his head.

"No lad, everything in the bath house is working great and business is booming."

"I can tell from my share of the profits that my loot shark drops off." He smiled.

"Well I cannot tell you how grateful I am for that, but it is because of how well our last business project is going that I was hoping to discuss another possible business project for us to work on together." I sighed.

"Alright, Gobber told me that you got an item from a trader that I supplied him so please can we skip the sales pitch and just tell me what it is your hoping to get." He smiled.

"Straight to the point as always and I've always liked that about you." He then pulled out a roll of material that I recognized as Arachne's silk. "Do you recognize this silk?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I traded a few rolls of it to a trader for all the books, scrolls and maps he had."

"Well when the people on my island who bought them to make clothes said it was some of the highest quality items they've seen in their lives." I nodded.

"Not surprising since the one who both made and weaved the material is one of the greatest weavers I've ever met."

"So, are they on your island?"

"Yeah, in addition to being my islands weaver, she also acts as a nanny for my kids."

"Well I would like to talk with this person and see if I could have her teach my people some of her weaving techniques and how to make her silk." I shook my head and simply replied.

"No!"

"If you don't think they'll be interested then I'm sure I can convince her-" I held up my hand.

"It's not that, it's the fact that she's not human." He raised an eyebrow.

"Not human?"

"She was once a mortal who angered the gods and for that the price, she payed was being turned into a giant spider." He stared at me before laughing.

"I have to admit lad, you're quite the actor." I raised an eyebrow. "You really had me going for a minute there with the whole, woman being turned into a spider for angering the gods." When he saw my straight face, realization hit him. "Wait, you're being serious?"

"I am, she's a giant spider now who lives on my island while weaving tapestries, sheets, rolls of silk and looking after my kids when me and their mothers are busy." He stared at me.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" I shrugged.

"Stranger things have happened to me in my life." Both he and my father raised an eyebrow. "You'd be amazed what creatures I've found when I'm travelling." My dad shook his head and took a sip from his drink while giving me a look that said 'he didn't want to know' before Nigren shook his head.

"Either way, I will not accept this unless I see it for myself." I sighed.

"Alright, I'll go back to my island and fetch Arachne just to prove it to you that her going to your island would not be a good idea." He nodded as I stood up and lead Toothless out of the Great Hall so we could take off.

10 minutes later

I was back in the Great Hall like before but now I was enjoying a slice of bread with some meat on it while smiling at the shocked look on chief Nigren's face as he stared at Arachne who was just standing in next to me as she looked at Nigren. He turned from her to me before turning back to her and then back to me once more as he asked.

"You weren't joking?" I shook my head.

"No, I was not." I gestured to Arachne. "This is Arachne, the weaver who made the materials your people are after who is also the one who looks after my kids when me and my wives are busy with things."

"You trust a giant spider to watch over your kids?" I shrugged.

"She does a good job and her weaving lessons are good for Chara." Arachne then said.

"And she's making great progress in her weaving and is even better than I was when I was her age." Chief Nigren turned to Arachne with his eyes open wide in shock.

"You can talk?" Arachne turned to him.

"Of course, how else would me and Hiccup have been able to negotiate or give Chara lessons on how to properly weave."

"Well then I don't suppose we can discuss the possibility of trade."

"The answer is no, as there is nothing you have that I either need or want so I will not come to your island as in addition to having no interest in what you offer, I would no doubt be the target of your peoples scorn due to my appearance."

"I can pay you well and keep you hidden from my people."

"Money has little value to me and anything else I need is supplied by Hiccup who allows me the freedom to go wherever I wish on his island without fear of being tormented because of my appearance." Chief Nigren turned to Hiccup.

"Hiccup, a little help please." I shook my head.

"I'm sorry but it's Arachne's choice."

"But the material could really be a big seller in my village." I sighed.

"If it's the material you want then I'm sure we can work something out." I turned to Arachne. "If Arachne is willing to supply the silk then perhaps, we could send it to your island for a fair price." Arachne then said.

"I don't mind, most of the time my rolls of thread are now just gathering in dust while waiting in storage for the next trader who has interest in them." Chief Nigren smiled and for a moment I could see the gleam of joy in his eyes.

"Then let's begin discussing prices shall we." I nodded.

"We'll also have to discuss how the materials are going to be delivered since I don't want your ships constantly coming to my island." He nodded and with that, negotiations began.

Nightfall

To say I was relieved my day was over would be an understatement since today, Chief Nigren has been a larger headache than usual with negotiations, making them longer than they needed to be. The reason for this is he kept trying to insist that his traders should be sent to collect the rolls of material and drop off payments for them when I could just modify some of my loot sharks to take the materials to his island and then bring back the payments to me like I did to collect the profits from the bath house. It was easy to tell that he was secretly hoping that his traders would be able to convince me to provide other products for his people to sell but I wasn't budging and although it took time, he finally understood this, at least for now.

This wasn't the end of my headaches though since as we were finalizing the plans, the horn signaling the dragon race preparations had begun and the riders who were participating are to prepare. Chief Nigren got curious about this and wished to witness the races himself and as a visiting chief, we couldn't turn him down despite knowing it'd cause a few more headaches for me and my dad. As expected, he loved it and wanted us to bring it to his people in the form of giving him the designs for the stands and everything else while trying to convince the racers to come do a race on his island from time to time for a large reward. I had to spend the rest of my day with him, trying to get him to back off and leave me and my fellow racers alone so we could continue to do their own jobs on the island and with a storm passing, he's going to have days to try and convince them despite me offering to take him back using my portal doors.

Fortunately for me he was staying on his ship with his crew meaning I'd be able to enjoy my down time on my island which is where I was now, soaking my stress away in the tub while going through the views of my various automatons. I am happy to say that there were no issues for me to deal with which means I'd be able to enjoy a quiet evening here in the tub and let my worries melt away. As I lay there against the wall of the tub though, I couldn't help but smile while thoughts of my beloved Blanca filled my head since I could hardly wait for the birth of our first-born blood child. I could hardly wait to see her in bed with the little bundle wrapped in blankets which would warm the newborn baby and I vowed to be a better father to them than my father was to me in my teenage years. For now, though, I could only wait patiently and find ways to make the days go by faster until the day my child is brought into this world by white snake I love.

Grown Hills Tribe

Nobodies POV:

In a private bath reserved for the chief's family was none other than Chief Nigrens daughter Freya who at this moment was staring at herself in the walls mirror, wearing nothing but a white towel as she looked over her body with her hair tied up in a tight bun with a few wet strands coming down to frame her lovely face. Sadly, the look of intense examination on her face was something that ruined her natural beauty as she examined her body for any flaws. When she saw none, she nodded to herself while thinking of her father and how he'd annoyed her with how he'd gone to Berk and hadn't taken her, claiming it was strictly for business. This would have been an opportunity for her to finally get together with Hiccup and come closer to the life she believed that she deserved with a wealthy husband, a beautiful home and the very best life had to offer.

Recently her determination had only grown stronger when she found out that the amazing silk like material the traders brought in came from his island. Her father had already had bed sheets and pillowcases made from the material for their family and they were incredibly comfortable to sleep on. She knew that there could possibly be more luxurious items either being kept or produced on that island and she'd love nothing more than to enjoy them all personally in the company of Hiccup himself. She knew that she wouldn't be able to have him all to herself though with his other wives around but she figured it would be easy to place herself at the head of his wives while the others would become a little higher in rank than glorified servants.

She looked at her body up and down in the mirror and smiled at what she saw since she could easily tell that she was beautiful and how the men her age who either lived or visited the island made it clear. It was because of this she had no shortage of marriage offers given to her father who turned them all down because she wanted none of them despite the fact that they were mostly wealthy traders and heirs to large business', none of them measured up to Hiccup. She'd come up with multiple ways to ensnare Hiccup in her web of love but after what her brother did to that Astrid girl, Hiccup avoided coming to their town unless he absolutely had to like when he built the bath house and even made it so his metal sharks could deliver his share of the profits. She shook her head knowing an opportunity would present itself and when it did, she would seize it and take her place as Hiccups wife but for now, all she could do was wait and with this in mind, she continued to dry herself while coming up with new ideas on how to ensnare Hiccup.

AN: Yeah, I know it wasn't exactly exciting but I've been busy this week with not only work but also planning my sisters baby shower tomorrow so no time to plan what to put in next. To make things a little harder for me, I don't intend for Hiccup to go on any big 'fate of the world hanging in the balance adventures 'or leaving the archipelago until after Blanca has given birth in April. If you have any ideas what can happen in the meantime please let me know since until April, I can use all the ideas I can get so until next time, have a nice day.