Symphonic Odyssey
: Vol. Three: Dark Sarcophagus: Verse One-Hundred and Thirty-Seven

While Cypher had kept the remaining bandit suppressed with his mental pressure, Alex had freed the woman from his grasp. Afterward, Alex had tended to her wounds with a few medicinal pills of his. He couldn’t repair her broken arm, but her bruises and minor cuts could be handled with such drugs and helped to ease her physical pain.

While Alex was doing that, Cypher had taken the bandit aside and tied him to a tree. Cypher had rendered him unconscious for the time being and went to help Alex with the woman. They soon discovered that she was named Rinn.

She and her late father had come from Heartwell Village. She talked about how it had been occupied by a group of bandits called Zealot’s Ring. Until a few weeks ago, they had only been extorting the village for food and money. They also occasionally used the men as a workforce for some secret project.

However, they had moved in and occupied the village completely and seemed to have no plans of leaving any time soon. The members of Zealot’s Ring were ruthless, and more often than not treated the villagers like animals. They were even being kept in cages instead of being allowed to remain in their homes.

Some of the men were even beginning to get ideas about having their way with some of the women, however, their leader had prevented such actions up till now. Rinn went on to explain that if this kept up, the people would lose hope and at that point, their village really would be lost.

Rinn and her father had tried to escape in order to seek help from the Kingdom, however, they had been spotted and chased down to this wooded area. If not for Cypher and Alex, Lynn was certain that she would have been killed alongside her father.

As she had told her story the two had helped move her father’s body to her side. She wept softly and caressed his head as it lay on her lap. Her distraught gaze, as she stared down at him, was enough to break the hearts of both Cypher and Alex.

All they had wanted to do was repair their friendship with a serious battle, a test of their resolve. They hadn’t planned on getting involved with these kinds of affairs. Truth be told, they knew things like this were happening all over Dellorim, yet, until now they had never truly cared to do anything about it themselves.

It was a curious thing when one thought about it. Conductors were the apex of power in spheres of human influence. By all rights, one would imagine them to be peacekeepers, defenders, or protectors of justice where none could be found, and indeed they were to a certain extent.

Zightbeasts had to be handled, and commoners stood no chance against them whatsoever. Additionally, a random commoner would occasionally gain the ability to step into the realm of Conductors. Their power was obviously inferior to well-trained and studied Conductors, but they were still beyond normal humans, and they sometimes had to be put in place when they stepped out of bounds.

One would assume that when it came to Conductors, abiding by the law and having limits set on what they could and could not do would seem like obvious additions to their codes of conduct.

Truly, it went without saying that Conductors kept the peace in some respects, but this was the exception, not the rule. Conductors within a Kingdom or other form of government were only bound by their oaths of loyalty to the leader or leaders of those countries. They were not bound by its rules or laws in the same way that common citizens were.

As long as a Conductor remained overall loyal to their liege lord, they could act with impunity. Conductors needed a certain amount of freedom, this was not only to increase their own personal strength but also so that they would be able to pursue their goals and experiments as well.

Ascending to the higher ranks was essentially an arms race. If a Kingdom fell behind it would replace itself at the mercy of a stronger force. To that end, they were encouraged to enhance their battle prowess as much as possible, and failing that, improve the country in other ways.

That said, a conductor couldn’t simply go on a rampage and do whatever they pleased without consequence, other Conductors would stand in the way of wanton murder and destruction. They could, however, choose to ignore most of the laws set in place, as well as the minor concerns of commoners. Commoners were kept in check by town and city guards, but Conductors were kept in check by their peers.

Cypher and Alex were no exceptions to this rule. Each of them remained quite noble at heart to be sure, but they had chosen to walk this path. Their pursuits of power drove them forward, and even they fell into the patterns of the many Conductors who came before them. Turning a blind eye to the struggles of commoners was something they didn’t even think twice about.

But when it came to a situation like this, one that they could not simply ignore or turn away from, they chose to act. Perhaps it was because they had witnessed this brutality firsthand, or maybe it was because of how earnestly Rinn had explained her plight. However, the “why” didn’t really matter anymore. At this point, they knew they had to do something about this.

If the Kingdom couldn’t be bothered to act, then they would. Cypher quickly moved to the remaining bandit and slapped him awake. The man stared up at him, confused at first, but soon a look of fear washed over him and he shuddered.

“You are going to tell me everything you know about Zealot’s Ring,” began Cypher. “and quickly, because if you don’t, I’ll let my friend here have his turn with your mind. He won’t be as… gentle as I was either,” said Cypher, his anger almost getting the better of him.

The bandit shook in fear but surprisingly, he refused to talk. Alex grumbled, stepped forward, and delivered a firm slap to the man’s face, knocking a tooth loose. “Tell us what you know! Otherwise, things are going to get a lot worse for you!” said Alex.