"Father, has Asta been acting… different these past couple of days?"
Sister Lily leaned in and whispered to the priest.
The priest stroked his chin thoughtfully, then said, "Yeah, the kid's getting bolder with his bragging. Just now he told me he's going to build a luxury bathhouse for all of you, and even promised each child their own private wooden tub. Hah! What a fake display of seriousness!"
"Huh?!"
Sister Lily's eyes widened in shock. Since when did Asta start doing anything remotely proper? But, if she was being honest with herself, she actually kind of looked forward to that luxury bathhouse. Just imagining being able to soak in a hot bath every day brought a blush to her cheeks.
After lunch, Houma picked an open patch of land next to the church. Then, grabbing an axe and a few tools, he began chiseling joints into the prepped wooden blocks, box joints, round joints, double-layered tenons, dovetail joints, rabbet joints… He was setting the groundwork to construct a full wooden bathhouse like a life-sized set of building blocks!
"Just give it up, Asta! You've never built a house in your life. There's no way you'll finish a bathhouse!"
Nash popped out and tossed a jab his way.
"You again, you little brat? Seriously, how can you say something's impossible when you haven't even tried it?"
Houma rolled his eyes. This kid was a walking ball of negativity. If only Master Might Guy could train him for a few days, he'd be burning with the fire of youth in no time!
Asta's tireless efforts weren't just about proving that poor or abandoned kids could reach their dreams through hard work. No, he was trying to inspire kids like Nash, who wallowed in self-pity and despair.
"What if I told you I'd have the bathhouse built before dawn tomorrow, what then?"
Houma stared into Nash's eyes, his gaze unwavering.
Nash shrank slightly under that determined look but still refused to back down. "If you really build that bathhouse by tomorrow, I'll respect you just like I respect Brother Yuno! But if you don't, then stop daydreaming every day! You're an orphan and a penniless nobody, accept it! Stop deluding yourself that you'll ever become the Wizard King!"
"Then it's a deal!"
Under the warm sunlight, Houma smiled with full confidence. He may have only studied mortise-and-tenon construction as a personal hobby, never having built anything in real life, but wasn't turning the impossible into reality exactly what youth was all about?
Whether it was Lee from Konoha, Might Guy, Guy's dad, or even Asta from the Clover Kingdom, weren't they all people abandoned by the mainstream cultivation systems of their worlds?
But did any of them ever bow their heads to the cruel fate that gave them no place to belong?
Hell no.
We ain't afraid of anybody!
After sealing the deal with Nash, Houma threw himself wholeheartedly into crafting joints and blueprints. He wasn't just going to build, he was going to build it right. That's the kind of life philosophy he lived by: if you're gonna do it, do it best.
According to his rough calculations, the bathhouse would require more than 3,500 different types of joints. But that wasn't enough to stop Houma. Years of training Asta's body were finally paying off. Like a devil possessed, he hauled massive logs back and forth, hacking and shaping them into over a thousand different joints for beams and walls, all using limited materials.
"This still isn't enough. I need to cut more wood… and I need four giant tree stumps to form the foundation!"
Without wasting a second, Houma charged into the forest to hunt for the right materials. Luckily, the forest wasn't short on towering trees, he had more than enough resources to work with.
"Looking at Asta now… it really doesn't feel like he's joking."
"Is he really going to build a bathhouse in just one day?"
The sisters and the other children stared in awe as Houma worked tirelessly. They didn't understand what all the carving on the wood was for, but it sure looked impressive.
"He's serious."
Yuno's eyes were fixed on Houma. As Asta's chosen rival for life, he'd never doubted Asta's determination. But… why hadn't Asta been able to use magic yet?
Yuno clenched his fists, whispering under his breath:
"You better hurry and grow stronger, Asta. If you don't, I'll leave you so far behind you'll never catch up. Winning this easily... honestly, it pisses me off."
As evening approached, the sisters called out to Houma for dinner.
"You all go ahead and eat! Don't worry about me!"
Houma stared at the thirty remaining logs. He had to finish carving all the joints before nightfall. If he didn't, it'd be impossible to finish such detailed work in the dark, and losing to a depressed little brat like Nash? No way in hell.
"But how can you skip dinner? Thanks to you, we have three whole fish tonight!"
The sisters tried to persuade him again, but the priest stopped them.
"Let him be. Otherwise, he'll never let it go."
The priest sighed. He had watched Asta grow up, he knew the boy better than anyone. When Asta set his heart on something, it was nearly impossible to talk him out of it. Just like his dream of becoming the Wizard King... or marrying Sister Lily.