"Father, Asta seems to have become a bit different these past two days!"
Sister Lily whispered to the Father.
The Father stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and said, "Yeah, this kid is getting better and better at bragging. He actually told me just now that he wanted to build a luxury bathhouse for you all, and even strive for every child to have their own exclusive bathtub. He's really playing the part!"
"Ah?!"
Sister Lily's mouth hung open. When did Asta start doing something serious? Truth be told, she was actually looking forward to this luxury bathhouse. Thinking about being able to soak in a hot bath every day, Sister Lily couldn't help but blush.
After eating lunch, Arlan chose a piece of open ground next to the church. Then, he began using an axe and other tools to carve mortise and tenon joints into the prepared wood blocks, such as convex square tenons, round tenons, double-layered convex tenons, dovetail tenons, and tongue-and-groove joints. This way, he could build an entirely wooden bathhouse like stacking building blocks!
"Give up, Asta. You've never built a house before. How could you possibly build a bathhouse!"
Nash ran out to mock him.
"It's you again, kid. Let me tell you, how do you know it's impossible before you've even tried?"
Arlan rolled his eyes. This kid was really full of negative energy. If he could be trained by Kai Emperor for a few days, he'd surely become another fine youth burning with the fire of youth!
Asta worked so hard to prove that even the poor and abandoned could realize their dreams through effort. Wasn't that also to inspire children like Nash who were full of self-pity?
"What if I say I can finish building this house before dawn tomorrow? What will you do?"
Arlan looked Nash in the eye and said.
Under Arlan's firm gaze, Nash couldn't help but feel ashamed, but he still stubbornly said, "If you really can finish the bathhouse by tomorrow, then I'll respect you just as much as I respect Yuno! But if you don't finish it, then don't dream your pipe dreams every day. Since you're an orphan and a pauper, you should have the awareness of an orphan and a pauper. Stop having delusions of becoming the Magic Emperor!"
"Then it's a deal!"
Under the sunlight, Arlan smiled confidently. Although he had only researched building houses with mortise and tenon structures out of interest and had never practiced it, turning the impossible into possible—isn't that what youth is all about!
Whether it was Konoha's Rock Lee, Might Guy, or Might Guy's father, or Clover's Asta, which one of them wasn't abandoned by the mainstream cultivation system of their world? But which one of them ever yielded to this damn, misplaced fate!?
In other words, who are we afraid of!
After making the vow with Nash, Arlan began to focus on making the mortise and tenon joints. Not only that, he also meticulously drew the blueprints for the house on the ground. Either don't do it, or do it to the best of his ability—that was his creed in life!
After preliminary calculations, this house would require about 3,500 different structures of mortise and tenon joints. But this didn't deter Arlan. The advantage of Asta's constant physical training over the years finally showed. He was like a demon, lifting massive logs and constantly trimming them, finally using the limited wood to prepare over a thousand pieces for either roof beams or walls.
"This isn't enough. I need to go logging, and I also need four massive tree stumps for the foundation!"
Arlan immediately rushed into the forest to select suitable timber. Fortunately, this forest was not lacking in towering trees, so he had plenty of construction materials.
"It doesn't look like Asta is joking, does it?"
"Can he really build a bathhouse in one day?"
The Sister and the others all looked at the seriously busy Arlan in surprise. Although they didn't know what Arlan had been carving into the wood blocks, it looked very impressive.
"He is indeed serious."
Yuno looked at Arlan seriously. As his self-appointed lifelong rival, he never doubted Asta's seriousness, but why was he still unable to use magic? Yuno clenched his fists and silently said to Asta, "You'd better grow up fast. If you don't, I'll leave you far behind. A victory that takes no effort is truly irritating!"
In the evening, Sister Lily called Arlan for dinner.
"You guys eat first, don't worry about me!"
Arlan stared at the remaining thirty logs. He had to finish all the mortise and tenon joints before it got completely dark; otherwise, such fine work would be very difficult to complete once night fell. If that happened, wouldn't he lose to a discouraged little kid?
"But how can you skip dinner? Thanks to you, we made three fish tonight!"
The Sister wanted to persuade him further, but she was stopped by the Father.
"Let him be, otherwise he won't give up."
The Father sighed. He had basically watched Asta grow up, and he understood Asta's temper better than anyone. Once he set his mind on something, it was hard to pull him back—like becoming the Magic Emperor or marrying Sister Lily.
...