"What happened?" Audrey, the best straight woman Mr. Fool could have asked for, asked curiously.
The Hanged Man, Alger, got straight to the point. "Kalvetua, the Sea God who has hidden for years after suffering a devastating blow, is on the verge of collapse. It's desperately searching for a way to prolong its existence.
"Its followers are attacking people everywhere, apparently searching for someone. Some fanatics have even prepared to die alongside their god.
"Sea King Jahn Kottman of the Church of Storms has arrived in Bayam. He's suppressed the Evil Spirit and sealed off Blue Mountain Island. I expect he'll find Kalvetua's hiding place within a day or two."
That matches my assessment... One is a Sea God on the verge of collapse, no stronger than Sequence 3 now. The other is a Sea King in good condition who can use Sealed Artifacts whenever he needs to. The outcome is obvious. Jahn Kottman can keep Kalvetua's madness in check and prevent the sea from flooding Bayam, turning all of Blue Mountain Island and its cities into lost underwater ruins...
Once Kalvetua's final frenzy passes and it disintegrates completely, the problem will be solved. It's the simplest, most effective approach. It won't cause a panic, and most people in Bayam won't even notice anything unusual.
But I heard Jahn Kottman's main post is as a High-ranking Deacon of the Mandated Punishers. He also serves as a cardinal to keep authority unified across the islands. He might act more like one of the Mandated Punishers... Even so, finding Kalvetua's hiding place won't be easy for him...
A day or two? That's probably an optimistic estimate. I still have a chance.
Recalling how he had sacrificed a cigarette case to Kalvetua that morning, Klein figured there was little harm in revealing the