"What happen to me?" With a face full of grief ask Petunia to Sam. "Do you really want to know? All things what happened because of you?"
The current Petunia couldn't look worse; she looked tired like she didn't take sleep for days, skinny to the point of seeing her bones, all her clothes were tattered and dirty, showing all the hardship she have to go before reaching here and didn't even have a shoe, making her little feet somewhat bloody.
Looking at this Sam felt terrible even knowing that this can't be possible be his fault. "I want to know, and if I'm somewhat responsible, I will the responsibility of that" –There's no way I'm responsible for the death of a party I didn't see in half a year-
"You can never fix anything, but I will tell you what happen so it will haunt you asking yourself if I did this, things could change?. All stated when…" Petunia has her eyes full of hatred fixed on Sam.
"Wait a minute" Sam decided that the story will take time and decided to go to the inn first with Petunia. "Let's go to the inn first and let's eat something, I barely have anything to eat today and I'm starving."
After saying the worst thing possible to a literally starving Petunia, she kicked Sam shouting "You better pay for everything, and I'm buying the expensive meal!"
-What's wrong with her?... oh right- Sam take note to never say that he's hungry to a starving person in the future, -Always think before you speak-.
After reaching the inn, little Pea order food worth of a full silver coin and the fact that an adventurer brought to the inn a dirty look little girl make the other have all sort of odd looks at Sam, thing that he didn't notice. Looking the painful look of Sam paying the meal Petunia actually felt a little better.
"Alright, it all started when we separated from each other…"
Half a year earlier
"… Why did I need to provoke him and escape?" ask a still beautiful Petunia.
"Here is what happening" a still alive Liam speaks to the party. "I accepted a mission for us but it requires having at least three individual iron rank adventurers, and only Juda and me are in that category"
"So a party D class mission and you decide to have him as the third member? He didn't even is a full wood rank adventurer" The response make Petunia more confused.
"You know I'm good at looking people, I can see he is a really good person that has enough strength to be and iron rank adventurer if he wants in a couple of days, and with the report we write, he should be able to take the test. He should be a good choice to our group" Liam talks the truth here.
"You know, you still didn't reply to my question" Petunia asks in the shoulder of his father.
"It's simple actually, he is already over 20 and only now he wants to be an adventurer, summing that and that I see him very flow with the current looks, we needed to give him a reason to come to us, even a reason as childish as taking a little revenge against a little child"
So with a new member in mind, the party went without problem to the border city of Salas waiting for Sam.
But three months later, Samuel where nothing to be seen.
"I speak with the guild, we can't make them wait more, if we want to do the mission, we have to go by tomorrow before they give the mission to someone else"
Liam have his conflicts, the reason he choose Sam was because he believed he is a good man, but now, he have to go with someone he didn't trust.
Looking around for the new member for the mission in a hurry, they didn't find anyone else than someone who was kick down from his previous party and was looking for a new party.
"I have a bad feeling about this but we have no choice" The mission have a high enough reward to take the chances, and he would have to paid a fine for not even beginning a mission he accepted.
Then the party went to north Salas in a long term mission. The first month was ordinary, with little battles here and there, but since the beginning of the second month thing gets beginning to get harsher.
The monsters started to appear more and more until one night, the last party member that they manage to find, simply run off with half of the rations.
It's all started to do downhill from that moments on, the monster groups become more difficult to defeat, the party becomes tired more easily and the rations couldn't keep up with the finishing line, so Liam take the decision of going back.
Then, at the half way to Salas, the party was surrounded by a big group of monsters led by an orc.
"This was the reason why a bronze rank adventurer or at least three iron rank adventurers have to take the mission; we cannot defeat this group in front of us"
Liam looks at his adults companions that nodded at him in acceptance.
"Petunia, come here" After giving his daughter a big hug he put a bag of money in her bosom than he directly grab her by the shoulders and with everything he had throws her to safety at the top of a tree were she get stuck.
From there she saw everything that happens, how everything she loves dies. She screamed and try to free herself, but when she manages to do that, all was already over.
Both the orc and the party die, leaving some monster without a leader, they simply escaped from a bloody Liam with all the stuff they can, including the adventurers bag from the red shirts party.
When petunia get close, Liam smile and then falls to the ground to never get up, Petunia cries for almost a whole day.
Petunia then starts her slow march towards Salas.
To the present
"I reached the adventurers guild hoping to have some help, but he guild didn't take me because I was only another poor child impersonating somebody else, since the red shirts still didn't put me in the member list because I was still too young and didn't even have an wood necklace at the time and I cound't prove my identity since the orc group taked everything related to that too."
"The money that I manage to bring disappears at an alarming rate and since I can't leave the city since the outside world is too dangerous for a girl without anything, I was hoping to work in some place. But nobody knows who am I, nobody want to hire me. And one night somebody steal my money bag, throwing me to the streets" Petunia starts to speak softer. "I was living from garbage, living day by day like this for weeks."
Finishing her story with a tear filled face, she look down and ask Sam with a little voice almost whispering, "So, do you feel anything from the story, do you felt guilty? If you just come here like you said everything that happened would be different, so… are you feeling remorse?"
Looking at the poor child in front of him, there's only one thing he can think of.
-I will be dammed; I am partly in fault-