Cost of Victory
The Unsolved Part

Eight lamps.
Six found.

The Cost of Victory is told by a scribe who says, on the first page, that eight hidden hands shaped the events he records. He placed six in thirty-one years of trying. This page is for readers who want to find the rest.

Count the lamps.

He called them that himself; I never found a better word and I have had thirty-one years to look. He told me once, late, “I set eight.” I can place six and one more that I cannot make out to be a stage he set.

You have one advantage I never had, dear reader, and it is not a small one.

You did not love any of them.

So, find the other two and who set the last stage. Find what I could not.

Kage no Fude, Prologue

What you are looking for

Six placed. One he could never quite make out. Two still dark.

Everything you need is in the book, including the lists at the back. He was honest about those. Honest means incomplete.

This page never names a lamp, and the guesses sent here are never published, so every reader can still count for themselves.

Send your guess

Guesses go to the author and are never published. Your email is kept only if you tick the box. Privacy policy

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