Chapter Fifty: The Death of Hans

  Hans knelt on the ground for a long time and refused to get up. He just kept repeating: "Impossible, impossible, Victoria loves me, she won't do that, won't..."

  I quietly accompanied the poor man, bandaged his wounds for him, and patted his shoulder, saying: "Hans brother, don't be like this. If you have any doubts, go back and ask your wife, I'll accompany you."

  When it came to finding Victoria, Hans finally reacted. He stood up and said, "Right, I'll go find her and ask her clearly." With that, he didn't even care about me anymore and just walked back. I hurriedly followed him. Actually, in my heart, I knew the red-haired man's words were probably true, mostly true. In fact, I was very pessimistic about the outcome of this return trip.

  We hadn't even reached the village entrance when we ran into Victoria and a few others coming out of the village. Hans saw Victoria and rushed to her side, grabbing his wife's hand tightly and saying: "Victoria, tell me this isn't true, what you said last night was true, you wouldn't want to kill me, would you?"

  Victoria saw Hans appear in front of her, looking extremely frightened, she screamed and struggled violently, desperately trying to break free from Hans' hands, retreating behind several people who were traveling with her, gazing at Hans in terror.

  Several people stepped in front of Hans, blocking his path to Victoria. "She's now the woman of our Lord Vini," they said, holding Hans back and threatening him: "You foolish hunter, accept reality! Back off quietly, or maybe Lord Vini will spare your life when he's in a good mood. If you persist in your obstinacy, you'll ultimately be done away with by Lord Vini!"

  At that moment, tragedy unfolded before my eyes. Victoria suddenly pulled out a short sword from beside someone and rushed forward, stabbing Hans in the abdomen as he was held down with his hands and feet bound. A few people exchanged glances and released Hans. He stumbled backward, clutching his abdomen, staring blankly at Victoria, repeatedly asking: "Why? Why? Victoria, you said we would be together..."

  Victoria shrieked and dropped the blood-stained dagger, backing away in a panic as she stammered: "No, no, no! It wasn't me, it wasn't me!"

  Hans slowly fell to his knees, his eyes filled with tears, he helplessly gazed at his wife, his loved one, then let out a long sigh and collapsed onto the ground, his body lightly convulsing, fresh blood staining the land around him crimson red.

  I lifted Hans up in front of me, felt under his nose with my hand, then raised my head and said to Victoria: "Your husband, the man who loved you so deeply that he didn't believe you would harm him even in death, is dead."

  I deeply regret not being able to stop this tragedy. I gently closed Hans' eyes that refused to shut, and softly said: "Hans, big brother, not all women are worth your deep love, not all sacrifices have a return, rest in peace, and hopefully next life, you'll find a woman who's truly worthy of your love."

  I put down Hans' body, slowly stood up, stared at Victoria and said: "You vicious woman, your man deeply loves you, for this family, to give you the best life, he works day and night, you just need to sit back and enjoy it at home, but you don't appreciate this true love at all, you betrayed him, conspired with others to kill your own husband, you are even worse than a beast!"

  Victoria showed no remorse, wildly yelling at the few people with her: "Kill him, he saw everything, if he runs away, Lord Vinnie will be in trouble, you quickly kill him for me!"

  Several companions around Victoria, seeing that things have come to this point, had already harbored murderous intentions towards me. They drew their weapons one after another, eyes gleaming with ferocity, and slowly closed in on me.

  I didn't pay attention to their movements, lowered my head and looked at Hans on the ground, saying: "Brother Hans, it's a fate that we met, let me repay your kindness of treating me to dinner now. I will make everyone involved in this matter pay for what they have done!"

  "The Staff of the Gods" appeared in my hand, with a huge blue gemstone on its head emitting dazzling light. I furiously shouted: "Let flames purify the sins of this world, let pure souls gain eternal life in the fierce fire!"

  Victoria and her companions only then discovered that the person standing before them was a magician. But it was too late, a massive ring of fire spread out with me at its center, everything within two hundred meters around me bursting into flames, they didn't even have time to escape, the flames engulfed them. They let out miserable wails in the sea of fire, twisting in agony, finally turning into a dark pile of charcoal, may their souls enter hell for fair judgment, people who disregard others' lives for personal gain, those who murder their own kin for wealth and status, they will ultimately receive their due punishment!

  I carefully collected Hans' ashes and put them in a bag. I chose a flat area on the waist of a small mountain as his final resting place. I used magic to dig a deep hole in the center of the flat area, carefully placed Hans' ashes inside, and then covered the hole with "Earth Wall Technique", forming a small mound. On top of the mound stood a smooth rectangular stone slab, which I engraved with the water-based magic "Flowing Water Blade" with the words: "Faithful, kind hunter: Hans rests here." His wife Victoria's ashes were buried below Hans', and the small mound faced Hans' grave. I knew that Hans wanted his wife to accompany him forever.

  The direction of the tombstone is facing Hans' village and the endless forest and mountains behind it, where Hans was raised and lived with his wife for a lifetime. That forest should be where he rescued his wife from in the first place. Although Hans' wife wasn't good to him, I think they must have had many happy memories throughout their years together. Hans once said that he was happy, even if it meant suffering for his wife's sake. Even though his wife ultimately betrayed and killed him, Hans didn't believe she wanted to kill him until the moment of his death.

  May all good memories accompany Hans, this kind man.

  I sat quietly by the grave for a while, and when the sunset shone on the cemetery, I stood up and walked towards Lant City, where there was still someone to be punished!