OBS Chapter 3284 The Story of the Forest Ranger
Chapter 3284 The Story of the Forest Ranger
Chapter 3284 The Story of the Forest Ranger
【But why eggs and apples? 】
When Xia De sat down in the living room and looked at the furnishings and decorations curiously, "she" asked softly again, and Xia De replied:
"Because I don't have any packaged milk or cartons of cereal."
So sometimes it is really difficult for others to understand the thoughts of outsiders.
Although Professor Reinhardt was not at home, after hearing that Shad wanted to see his research results on the island, Mrs. Reinhardt took out some of her husband's books and manuscripts from the study and let Shad look through them.
Based on the legends and stories of the Fatu people, the professor compiled the history of the Fatu people in the form of a chronology. This work was already underway when Miss Reinhart left the island, and it is still ongoing today.
Of course, although the work is still in progress, the general framework of the chronology has been established, and the remaining work is to continue to fill it with content according to time.
The starting point of the chronology is the "unknown ancient times", which should refer to the time when the Fatu people migrated to the local area. The last major event recorded was the Fatumonster Island earthquake about 60 years ago, also known as the "Falling Star Bay" earthquake.
Xia De intended to find records of the Fatu people's worship of "snakes" and indeed found some of the content. Professor Reinhardt's research on this matter was inferred based on the details of the ancient murals and decorative patterns on the remaining ancient buildings.
Although the professor was unable to find specific documentary materials, when he sorted out the stories and myths passed down from generation to generation by the locals, he discovered that many stories involved creatures such as "giant snakes" and "two-headed snakes."
As for whether there is anything buried under the snow mountain, Professor Reinhardt's investigation is also quite vague. It's not that there is no record at all, but although it is mentioned a few times, the topic is avoided every time it comes to key points.
So Shade still had to talk to Professor Reinhardt in person to see how much he knew about the Fatumunster Snow Mountain from an outsider's perspective.
When Shade was reading these documents in the living room, Miss Reinhart was helping to sort them out. But after a while, the witch was called away by her mother. Although she was going to the kitchen to help prepare lunch, Shade guessed that the lady wanted to ask about his identity.
At 11 o'clock in the morning, Professor Reinhardt still hadn't returned, so Mrs. Reinhardt arranged for the three of them to have lunch first:
"I left food for him in the kitchen."
Because there were guests visiting, the lunch was very sumptuous. However, after lunch, the witch was a little worried, and she didn't want to waste time:
"Mother, where is Father visiting his friend? Mr. Watson and I will go look for him. Since he hasn't come back for lunch yet, he may have decided to eat at a friend's house at the last minute."
"He went to visit old Haman who lives in the mountains. If you go, remember to remind him not to drink."
The so-called "Old Haman" is actually a forest ranger living in the mountains, or in other words, a "mountain ranger" arranged by the Fatu people in the mountains to patrol the mountains and look after animals in the mountains.
This profession is usually passed down from generation to generation, and the people in the tribe admire them very much, and they often know a lot of things that others don't know. So Professor Reinhardt met and became friends with the old Haman during the process of collecting materials. The witch had seen him visit her home when she was a child, but she didn't have a particularly deep impression of him.
Forest rangers usually live at the foot of the Fatumunster Snow Mountain. If ordinary people don't know where they are, it is difficult to find them in the vast primeval forest. The elderly Professor Reinhardt did not walk there on his own. His family has a donkey cart used to pull goods from the dock, which is the professor's means of transportation today.
"After all, the island can't be compared with the big city."
On the way to the next destination, Miss Reinhardt was still sighing in boredom. Shad did not comment on this. He was more concerned about the owl that just flew over their heads.
Xia De was originally a little worried that Professor Reinhardt did not return home at noon because he encountered some unexpected situation. Considering the current situation in the local area, this is very likely. But it turned out that he did not know the professor as well as his wife - Professor Reinhardt actually got drunk while drinking with old friends.
It seemed that the locals all knew the witch. After the two knocked on the door of the ranger's cabin hidden in the cedar forest, the sturdy old man wearing a cotton hat who opened the door was stunned for a moment, then smiled and greeted Miss Reinhardt:
"Little Claire, I haven't seen you for many years. Your father mentioned you when he was chatting with me this morning."
Then he looked at Shade behind the witch, so Miss Reinhardt introduced him again as "grandfather's friend". The ranger, Old Harman, nodded in understanding:
"Ringmaster, huh?"
Although the old man guarding the mountain was an ordinary person, it was impossible for him not to know this, so Xia De nodded directly:
"Yes."
The hut was made of stone, with a fire pit in the middle, and a pot on top of it boiling water. A faint smell of alcohol filled the room, and Professor Reinhardt was lying on the bed in the corner, drunk and unconscious.
"My father is not an alcoholic. He just isn't good at drinking, but he always likes to drink."
The witch explained awkwardly, and Shade walked forward to check the situation.
Professor Reinhardt was a middle-aged man with black hair and glasses crookedly worn on his face. Although he was lying on the bed, Shade could see that he was not very tall, at least not as tall as his wife and daughter. In other words, Mrs. Reinhardt was much taller than her husband.
However, after meeting the couple, Shad thought that all the good looks of the two were concentrated on Miss Rhinehart. The only thing about her hair was that it was not inherited from her parents, otherwise her hair should be black or pure blonde.
Although there was a donkey cart parked outside the door, Professor Reinhardt was too drunk to return to the town. Ring wizards had many ways to cure drunkenness, but the witch was the kind of girl who didn't like to use the methods of ring wizards on ordinary people.
So she just took out a dull black gem and handed it to Shade, asking Shade to activate the magic inside to sober up his father. The magic stored inside should be some kind of magic to remove negative states, but the effect of the magic is very weak. Shade guessed that it was probably made by Miss Larson when she was practicing.
Because the hangover-removing effect was very weak, it would take some time for Professor Reinhardt to sober up, so Shad and the witch gathered around the fire pit with old Haman, drinking tea and chatting.
Xia De mentioned that the purpose of his visit to the professor was to learn about the snow-capped mountains. The old man guarding the mountain then told him and the witch about the strange things he had encountered during the forty years he had spent in the woods at the foot of the mountain.
He had seen corpses of poachers who had died tragically in the mouths of wild animals, he had seen strange ring sorcerers fighting at the foot of the snow-capped mountains, he had seen strange outsiders who came to ask for directions, and he had even seen several roads that suddenly appeared in the snow-capped mountains that he did not recognize.
"Can you tell me more about this? I heard from Elder Harald that the actual area of the Snow Mountain is much larger than what we can see."
The old ranger smiled and held the teacup:
“I don’t know much about it, but I have some stories of my own.
That was about 20 years ago, when you were less than 10 years old, Claire. There was a heavy snowfall that winter, and I wanted to go on a mountain patrol while the weather was good after the snow stopped, but it snowed again while I was on the mountain patrol. I saw that it was too late to go back, so I found a cave nearby to hide.
He saw that the young people were listening carefully:
"I had clearly hidden in a cave at the foot of the southern slope of the snowy mountain, but when the snow stopped, I found myself in the southeast of the mountain. I thought I was possessed by evil spirits, so I took my shotgun and fork and wanted to return to the town first, but it snowed heavily on the road again. I had nowhere to hide and had to continue on my way.
After it became completely dark, even the trees around me became sparse. With nowhere to hide, I saw something glowing white in front of me, so I subconsciously followed it, and then I arrived in front of a towering castle made of ice and snow.
The old man kept sighing:
"The white light disappeared, and I thought I was dead. After all, that's what the story says. But I hid in the tower and slept all night, and nothing happened. I left quickly after dawn, and stumbled back to the town at noon.
When I took people to look for it again, I found nothing, whether it was a cave, a white light, or an ice castle."
"My grandfather was already a priest at that time. Did he know about this?"
"Yes. He also followed me on that road, but we only found some strange animal footprints on the snow, so the incident could only be attributed to me getting lost in the snow, then following a snow leopard or a mountain goat to find a temporary shelter, and then having hallucinations due to the cold - that's what I said to the public.
But the elders all believed that I was telling the truth, and that what happened to me was probably true, but no one knew exactly what happened. "
He recounted the story of his youth with a nostalgic look on his face:
"For me, I at least believe that the white light that guided me to the castle in the dark was not my imagination. I have been trying to find it and repay it all these years. Oh, speaking of which, I also took something out of the ice castle at that time. The elders said it was just an ordinary item and let me keep it. Do you want to see it?"
Shade, Miss Rhinehart, and the owl hanging upside down on the eaves were all very interested, so the old man got up and took out a small box from the cabinet. It was obvious that he kept the box very carefully, and after carefully opening the lock, a small piece of folded silk cloth was placed inside.