Bab 431: At Loggerheads

After the two women's account, Jake remained thoughtful for a while. Eventually, he asked coolly,

"The 11 dead people from last night... were they killed by the Monsters? "

Kewanee and Svara were somewhat taken aback by his query, but as they replayed the robotic voice's announcement in their memories, they realized that the answer was not all that simple.

"I'll say... at least nine," Svara concluded, though she couldn't say for sure. "But one of the victims was another Vagabond. Since the first house was burned, a house has been destroyed every day.

The robotic voice had announced the list of Monster victims first before announcing several more murders. To Jake, this could only mean one thing: The Monsters had upgraded their Role.