I didn't know that anyone would know if I came here to practice shooting.

When Gotz came out from behind the big tree, I was so frightened that I almost raised my bow to shoot again.

Fortunately, I don't know how to shoot arrows. When I don't choose the attack command, I am a real novice.

Of course, I didn’t even know that, and I gave Goetz no less of a scare than this.

In Goetz's cabin.

"Marcus, your archery skills are pretty good."

Gotz said his compliments and served me a full bowl of pumpkin porridge.

The people in this small town are really very honest. As long as I go to someone else's house for dinner, I can always get a meal.

"Just practicing." I said embarrassedly.

"No, no, no, that's no ordinary shooting. If you were hunting, you should be able to kill an enemy beast with one shot."

Gotz took the short bow and looked at it over and over in wonder.

"This short bow is just the most primitive bow, and this arrow is also the simplest featherless arrow. These two things can actually hit the target with perfect accuracy. Your archery skills must be very superb!"

I took a sip of Rezhong and said modestly: "There is no perfect shot. Only eighty or ninety arrows out of a hundred can hit the target."

I came to the jungle just to test my shooting accuracy, especially under interference.

It turns out it's the blocking that affects me the most.

If there is something blocking the front, I can't hit it directly. There is no such thing as shooting through the wall and hitting the target.

Second is the complex external environment.

If the bowstring is wet or the target is overgrown with vegetation, the accuracy of arrow shooting will be seriously affected.

The least affecting thing is the darkness.

It was dark in the dense forest. Logically speaking, in a situation where I could only vaguely see an approximate target, hitting the target could only be said to be empty talk.

But as long as I can barely see the target and successfully trigger the attack command judgment, I will definitely hit the target.

"That's amazing." Goetz sighed.

I took a look at the overly simple and plain environment in the room, which gave off a unique atmosphere of a bachelor.

"Gots, do you live alone? Why don't you come to town?"

Gotz shook his head, unwilling to answer the question, and sent me safely back to the ranch after I finished my meal.

…………

Boss Dart's Bistro.

Although I had finished my dinner, I still habitually went to Boss Dart's tavern to report.

Of course, what I was more curious about was why Gotz lived in the forest instead of moving to the town. So I went to see the well-informed boss to find out.

"You mean Goetz?"

Boss Dart's serious face showed no emotion at all, and he said to me with a straight face.

"I told you not to inquire about other people's secrets."

But after thinking about it, he still spoke to me.

"I'll tell you a rough idea, so don't go irritating Gotz anymore. After all, it's better for you to ask me than to ask the principal rashly."

Boss Dart sat down on the bar chair next to me and poured himself a glass of wine.

"Okay boss, I'm just going to ask casually. I won't force you to ask if it's not convenient for you." I quickly said that this was just pure gossip and not any malicious speculation.

"Gotz used to have a family, and the whole family lived in the forest farm behind your ranch."

"But there are so many trees there, how can it be suitable for people to live?"

"At that time, it was a very neatly maintained forest farm, surrounded by pine and beech forests, with a huge open space in the middle, where Goetz's home was."

"That's where his ancestors have lived for generations. He inherited the lumberyard when he was in his twenties and became the only carpenter in the town."

"But twenty years ago, something unexpected happened..."

"During that time, Goetz went to the town to build churches and was often busy until late at night. One day he came home with gifts to give to his wife and one-year-old daughter."

"But what appeared in front of him was a muddy mudslide rolling down from the mountain, obscuring his sight."

"The mudslide was like a huge beast coming down the mountain, crushing and overturning everything in front of it. And it happened that on this road, there were Gotz's forest farm and houses..."

I looked at Boss Dart in shock and asked in disbelief: "Why is he still staying on the mountain doing carpentry? This is too cruel!"

Boss Dart did not answer directly, but pointed at a person who had just entered the door.

"Then you have to ask him about this, Chief Harris."

Harris?

I turned around and saw a police sergeant with a big cap walking in from outside. He had an upright and somewhat stiff expression on his face and greeted Boss Dart with a smile.

"Boss, the old rule is a glass of boiled water!"

Boss Dart said in disgust: "I almost go bankrupt if I come here to drink boiled water every day."

Sheriff Harris said with a serious face: "I can't drink during patrol! That's the rule!"

Then seeing Boss Dart's face as dark as the bottom of a pot, he quickly added.

"But I will definitely come for a drink after get off work in the evening!"

Boss Dart's expression softened slightly and he handed over a glass of water.

"What's wrong? Someone seemed to be talking about me just now?" Sheriff Harris asked us after finishing the drink in one gulp.

"We are talking about Gotz, please continue."

Chief Harris' expression also froze, and then he spoke slowly.

"Well, it's time for you, the new rancher, to know about this tragedy."

………

It was my first year as the town's sheriff, and a tragedy happened in the town.

Goetz's wife and daughter both died in the mountain disaster.

But late one night, Gotz suddenly came to my house and knocked on the door.

I have never seen a person who can express his emotions in such a weird way.

His eyes were bloodshot and there was a sad look on his face, as if all the color had disappeared from his body, leaving only grayish white.

But when he looked at me, there was a surge of emotion like lava in his eyes.

I tried to distinguish the context, which may include mourning for my wife and daughter, grief for losing a loved one, self-blame for my own inability, and protest against fate...

But when he spoke, I knew there was something different.

he said.

"Harris, I will be responsible for patrolling the mountain from now on."

His words were not questions or requests, but a tone that could not be refuted.

He is stating a fact.

"But Gotz, your current situation is not suitable for you to continue to engage in related work."

I felt that his language ability seemed to be affected in some way, and he mumbled and muttered incomprehensibly.

I don't know if he has a shadow in his heart about Madas Mountain, but going to patrol the mountain in his current state is definitely not a good idea.

"I will recover within three days, and I will patrol this mountain from now on."

"Mountain disasters happen without warning because people like me who know Mount Madas never realize what they can do."

"I don't want something like this to happen to anyone again!"

I looked at his increasingly determined expression, and finally understood what his feelings contained.

It is the consciousness of eternal struggle against Madras Mountain.

…………

"So, Gotz continues to live in the mountains for the sake of the people in the town?" I asked.

"No, I think he is trying to atone for his sins." Boss Dart analyzed, "That's why he puts himself in the most dangerous and resistant place to shoulder his mission."

Sheriff Harris was sighing, as if he was still immersed in the memories of that night, feeling pain for the unfortunate man.

But no one knew that there was still an insignificant memory that he had not mentioned later.

That memory may not even be worth mentioning.

Because before Goetz left that day, he kept mumbling some inconsistent words, and it took Chief Harris a long time to distinguish between them before he could clearly hear the two sentences.

"I didn't find their bodies...I saw them..."

"There's something wrong with Mads Mountain! I...I have to stay on the mountain!"
Chapter completed!