//19// If he's not contributing to my taxes, he's not staying under my roof

"Your house?" Arsenal exclaimed,

"No, no, I don't think that's alright, your father will kill me."

"Not if he knows you save my life, and the whole region. Come in, he won't mind." Ohana assured him, but Arsenal was still uncomfortable, he was hoping to find an inn to spend the night. But when he thought of it, this option was a lot cheaper, especially since he has no money on him.

"Just don't be rude to him, he gets upset and causes a lot of drama."

"Uhh….Okay." Arsenal nodded in agreement and followed her into their home.

As poor as the people were, they seemed to live in very spacious homes, their belongings were very little as well, because they had no money to purchase what they didn't need.

The living room consists of a wooden bench, long enough to sit four people, and a mat on the opposite side. The windows were made out of metallic roofing sheets without curtains or bars and the only source of entertainment was a type of gaming board with several pieces that Arsenal hadn't seen before.

"That's your dad I guess?" Arsenal asked, referring to the white beard man that had just come into the living room with a wooden bowl of steaming hot food.

"Ohana?" He called out, and was very shocked to see her.

"I thought you were captured by the Agents and taken away?"

"Yes, yet here you are, unbothered and … eating snails." Ohana scoffed, she hated the old man so much and considered it to be a shame that she still called him father. To her, he was nothing but a filthy selfish housemate whom she had to live with because he paid the taxes.

"What should I have done, come to look for you? Even your brother didn't know what to do when I told him. He'll be happy to see you when he comes back though. " Said the old man, before placing his bowl down on the mat, and sitting in front of it with his legs crossed.

"By the way, who is the handsome young man?" He finally asked, and Arsenal swallowed hard like he was going to be Interrogated by a father in law.

"He will be sleeping over tonight and tomorrow night…

"Without my permission?"

"I told you this was a bad idea." Arsenal whispered into Ohana's ears from behind.

"Do I need your permission to also be married? I'm guessing I also need your permission to be alive, he's spending the night in my room." Ohana concluded and was about to walk away when her father stopped her and said.

"If he's not contributing to my taxes, he's not going to stay under my roof."

"I will contribute sir," Arsenal chimed in.

"Two hundred Gnoms?"

"Yes sir." Arsenal replied and Ohana slapped herself on the face.

"I told you to let me handle it." She muttered with a frown,

"Now I truly want to see how you intend to raise 200 silver Gnoms tomorrow."

"Leave the boy alone," her father scolded,

"A fine boy will surely make such an amount of money and more. And he'd make cute grand babies too."

"Uhh?" Arsenal kept his eyes away from Ohana, because his deadly gaze was sure to kill him before the end of the night.

"Just come with me and I'll show you where to sleep. When my brother comes I'll ask if he has any clothes to lend you so you can change and wash what you are wearing."

"Alright, thanks." Arsenal smiled, and after saying thank you to her father as well, he followed Ohana into her room which was bigger than he expected.

She had a small bed by the corner and its frame was made of metal, the mattress is slightly smaller than the frame, but it's good enough for Ohana's height since she wasn't tall.

There was also a small wooden table close to her window, and a lamp that she switched on as soon as they entered the room.

"He wasn't so bad." Said Arsenal, breaking the silence that prevailed for over a minute as Ohana tried to clean up her messy room.

"I live with him, you don't, " she said,

"So you would understand when I tell you that he is bad. Anyway, here." She handed a folded woven mat over to Arsenal and asked him to lay it on the opposite side of her room.

"Thanks." Said Arsenal and did as she had told him, then she tossed him one of her bedsheets, so soft and silky that touching it could make a person lazy for the rest of the day.

"It gets really cold at night here." She added.

"Thank you."

"No problem, now for you to take a bath… just a moment." She walked out of the room and came back less than a minute later with a bucket.

"Here," she handed the empty bucket over to Arsenal and said

"Let me show you the well to draw water from."

Following her from behind, Arsenal couldn't help but chuckle at her kind of hospitality. Usually when a guest arrives, the host does everything for them, but with Ohana it was quite the opposite.

She took him to the back of their house with the lamp since it was dark, and showed Arsenal a well from which he drew his bath water, but he still had to wait a few minutes for Ohana's brother to return so that he could change.

Unlike Ohana, her brother was more hospitable, offering Arsenal some clean clothes without hesitation and even sharing food with him. He had a lot of questions for Arsenal which the young man answered even though ninety percent were lies.

The food was difficult for him to eat, because Arsenal wasn't fond of bugs, unfortunately ninety percent of the diet placed before him were bugs and snails which he had no choice but to try.

Ohana's brother also suggested that Arsenal spent the night in his room, but Ohana kicked against it, claiming that her brother was dirty, which led to a little argument. But at the end, he had to go to bed and it was his first time sleeping on this strange planet.