Lietta's visit lasted only an hour and a half. When Lietta's real older brother contacted her again to ask where she was, Joshua had no choice but to tell her that it was time to go home.
"This Source Crystal Stone will help you find me."
Joshua flicked a Source Crystal Stone engraved with a pathfinding function toward Lietta with his tail.
"This is contraband to your other brothers. Don't let them find it, and don't let them see it," Joshua warned Lietta.
Lietta nodded. Then, a somewhat slimy tentacle extended from beneath her robe, curled around the Source Crystal Stone in her palm, and retreated back into her robe.
"That just now was... forget it. Anyway, what happened between us must remain a secret, understand?"
Joshua did not want to dwell on what the actual bodies of creatures formed from gray mist looked like. Besides, telling a little girl, "Lift up your skirt and let me see!" seemed rather inappropriate, didn't it?
Lietta obediently took the Source Crystal Stone and left the Sewing Gang's base.
"You really trust her?"
Thousand Faces watched Lietta's departing figure. She seriously suspected that Lietta would soon return with the other gray mist Avatars and smash up this arcade.
"Even if we tied her up and kidnapped her, the other gray mist Avatars would probably come looking anyway. Besides... don't you think the gray mist shrouding this city is weakening?"
Joshua had not built arcades throughout the city to make money. He had simply wanted to raise Resident Happiness.
"But for that gray mist Avatar to appear here means they have already noticed the arcade," Thousand Faces said.
"It doesn't matter if they have. It's about time to begin the next step of the plan anyway."
Joshua took out a stack of blank paper