"Go away. You demon! Go away."
The agitation began suddenly, and the emotional kids could not hold themselves from cursing Lea out. One of them even rushed toward Lea with a knife and tried to kill her.
But Sara blocked his way and incapacitated the kid before he could gut Lea with a knife.
"What are you doing? I need to avenge Sister Patricia by killing the devil right now. You need to let me go now."
The kid begged and demanded in the same tone. Tears struck his eyes as he tried to break free from Sara's clutches. But no matter how much he begged and pleaded, Sara could not let the kid go.
Others in the settlement looked exhausted but understood Sara's actions.
"You all need to calm down. I know that losing Patricia is a big blow to you all. But Lea did what was the protocol, and Patricia knew that as well."
"It is better for someone to die as a human than for them to become a part of the rift. Would you all have preferred if Patricia returned as a demon of the rift? Would you all have been able to forgive yourselves if that happened?"
Sara asked and raised her voice for the first time. It caused people to take a step back from her and look away.
They knew that Sara was right, but they did not want to believe her.
"Ah, Patricia did say that she would not last any longer than this year. The rift was getting too much for her to bear, and she wanted to die while doing something she truly wanted."
"In the end, her wish did come true by saving her brother from the clutches of the rift. I guess you could call it a happy ending for her?"
Lea commented, and Sara felt the urge to hit her on the head. She would have preferred for Lea to remain quiet in this situation.
Whatever sympathy Sara had gained for Lea drained from the people's eyes, and they walked away.
"You all need to leave this settlement as soon as possible. You are no longer welcome here. We show you this grace because you saved our lives while escorting us here. But that is all we can do for you."
The young boy, who looked like the next leader of the group, stepped forward and explained. He looked like a sensible man, so Sara was sure that this group would do alright.
"We understand. We shall take our leave as soon as we have secured our samples. You will not need to tell us this twice."
Sara assured these people, but they did not look happy even after her assurance. They looked at Lea like she was the devil herself before walking away.
At first, Sara did not say anything. She looked at Lea, waiting for her to explain what happened. But Lea had no intentions of sharing what happened.
"So, is this all over? What do we do next? Just take the sample and head back? What about the relationship of this place with the main city? Won't it sour over Patricia's death?"
Emily sounded worried when she asked all these questions. She could not help but feel helpless over what happened.
None of this was what she had expected for her first rift expedition. She did not know what to feel about all this.
"Don't worry. Currently, the emotions of this settlement are running high. But humans are adaptable and sensible creatures most of the time. As soon as the emotions in this settlement die down, they will form new relations with the main city."
"After all, the death of a single person is not enough to jeopardise the relationship these people have with the main city."
Lea assured this with a cheerful voice. It seemed as if nothing could phase her and her mood. Emily felt a little awkward to see Lea be this cheerful after her friend had died.
Sara only sighed, almost as if she expected this outcome, before she began to pack all the samples and hand them to Lea.
"Here, you keep them all safe. You are the only one who can handle these samples without any protective gear."
Sara handed the samples to Lea for safekeeping, and Lea quickly put them into her pseudo space before turning toward the exit and walking out.
Emily felt hesitant to ask Lea any questions. She wanted to ask Lea if she thought anything regarding her friend's death, but she was reluctant to do so.
Somehow, it felt personal, and Emily wanted to stay within her boundaries with Lea. She wanted to have a good relationship with Lea.
"Is there anything you want to ask me, Emily? You look curious, and I can see your eyes looking at me."
Emily felt her breath hitch as she was caught. He opened her mouth to ask the question but quickly closed it. Somehow, it did not feel safe for her to ask the questions she wanted.
"No, there is nothing I want to ask you. I was only looking at you to see what an idiot you were. Why would you say all those mean words to the grieving people? It was like rubbing salt in their wounds. Not that I am blaming you or something. I am just a little curious."
She had messed up. Emily had not wanted to speak these words out loud, but she had not gotten Lea's indifference out of her head either.
Lea did not even notice what was wrong with her behaviour and lack of care. And it made Lea seem less human to her.
"I see. In that case, I will look outside and check for any disturbances. We don't want to get attacked on our way back, right?"
Lea asked before she walked out. There was no hint of guilt on her face for what she did to Patricia and these people.
Emily wanted to go after Lea, but Sara stopped her from going after her.
"Don't bother going after Lea. This is not the first time something like this has happened, and this will not be the last. I know you want to treat Lea as a human but keep yourself in check."
This was not the first time Sara had stopped Emily from going after Lea.
Emily felt irritated by this, and she wanted to snap at Sara. But she did not want to seem ungrateful, so she kept to herself.
"I understand. I will keep a distance from Lea because this is what you want. But treating her like this is not right. If you want Lea to be close to humans, you must treat her like one."
Emily spoke her mind, but she did not see the angry and frustrated expression on Sata's face. She walked away, even without hearing Sara's last words.
"Treat Lea like a human? I tried to do that harder than anyone else. But Lea is…. you will understand soon. It is no use to treat that thing as human. I might be in love with a demon, but I have enough self-awareness to know this."
This was another reason why Sara's relationship with Lea never went physical. She loved Lea, but she could not accept her true nature.
And soon, Emily would have to make that choice as well.
"Miss, do you mind returning samples to the main lab for us? You are the only one we feel comfortable approaching in your group. The other two are a little…"
The locals trailed off and did not finish their sentence. But they did not need to complete it for Sara to understand. She quickly put up her people's persona and gave the local a smile.
"Of course, I understand. I will take the sample back for you. Once again, I am sorry for all the inconvenience my companions caused you. I shall take care of everything from here on."
"No, there is no need for you to bow in front of me like this. We like you since you listen to us and are unlike your companions. We would welcome you and only you back with open arms."
The local said, and Sara tried to remain her cheerful self. But inside her heart, she could not help but curse these people. They did not understand anything about her or what she was going through.
She had forced herself not to go after Lea and agree with her. All because she had to keep up her 'mask' of being friendly to the locals. She had to pretend she understood her pain even if she disagreed with them.
"I understand it all. I will put in a good word for you during our annual report as well. So, I hope you will continue to support our base with your supplies as well."
Sara tried to smile and maintain her image. But the longer she tried, the more her jaw hurt. At least it helped her out in the end.