BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
As night blanketed Hage Village, Asta lit a massive bonfire in the yard, casting flickering orange light across his workspace.
Building the bathhouse frame had been straightforward enough, but shaping leak-proof wooden bathtubs proved to be a far tougher challenge.
Without nails or modern sealant, every plank had to fit together with microscopic precision.
Asta’s first attempt leaked from the bottom seam.
His second cracked when he forced the joints too tightly.
But instead of getting frustrated, Asta analyzed his mistakes, adjusted his chisel angles, and kept working.
By the time the stars began to fade, after endless trial and error, he had successfully crafted four beautifully smoothed, watertight wooden bathtubs—two for the boys’ side and two for the girls’ side!
At dawn’s first light, Father Orsi and Sister Lily stepped outside into the chilly morning air, expecting to find half-finished timber scattered across the yard.
Instead, their eyes widened in total shock.
Standing before the church was a brand-new, beautifully structured wooden bathhouse.
Father Orsi rushed inside, sliding open the door to reveal the clean, fragrant interior divided by a heavy timber wall.
Sitting neatly in their respective sections were four perfectly crafted wooden bathtubs.
“My goodness…” Father Orsi gasped, running his fingers along the smooth, tightly fitted wood of a tub.
His voice trembled with genuine surprise and a swell of pride.
“He…
he actually did it!
And look at these tubs—there isn’t a single leak!
Asta…
you stubborn, wonderful boy…”
Sister Lily walked in right behind him, running a hand gently over the smooth edge of one of the tubs.
Her eyes widened in genuine disbelief.
“I still can’t believe it…
He failed so many times last night, but he just kept trying until he got it right,” she said, looking over at Father Orsi with a soft, proud smile.
“He really made all of this for us.”
Outside, Asta lay back on the grass near the church steps, wiping sweat from his bare chest as his stomach let out a thunderous rumble.
Steps crunched on the dirt behind him.
Nash walked over, stopping a few feet away.
The young boy stared at the magnificent building, then down at Asta’s calloused, wood-stained hands.
The cynicism in Nash’s eyes had vanished, replaced by a deep, troubled confusion.
“Asta…” Nash began softly, his voice trembling slightly.
“Do you…
do you never get afraid?”
Asta turned his head, looking up at the younger boy.
“Afraid of what?”
“Afraid that…
that you’ll never become a Magic Knight,” Nash blurted out, clenching his fists at his sides.
“Only people with mana can become Magic Knights!
Everyone knows that!
Doesn’t it terrify you that no matter how hard you work, you might just fail because you don’t have magic?”
Asta stayed silent for a moment, letting the gentle morning wind blow past them.
He sat up slowly, looking Nash straight in the eyes.
“Of course I get afraid, Nash,” Asta said calmly, his voice steady and grounded.
“I’m not stupid.
I know the whole world says you need mana to be a Magic Knight.
But if you never even try, how do you know for sure whether you’ll fail or not?”
Asta stood up, towering over the younger boy with an unbreakable presence.
“Fear is normal.
But if I let fear stop me from taking the next step, then I’ve already lost.
I have no mana, so I have to work ten times harder than anyone else.
I just have to keep moving forward!”
Nash stared at Asta, his chest heaving as Asta’s words echoed in his mind.
All his doubts, all his fear of being an unwanted orphan without talent—Asta was facing those exact same monsters every day, yet he chose to stand tall and fight anyway.
Tears welled up in Nash’s eyes.
Without warning, he bowed his head deeply toward Asta.
“Brother Asta…
please train me!” Nash cried out from the bottom of his heart.
“Teach me how to be strong like you!
I don’t want to be afraid anymore!”
Asta blinked in surprise, then let out a bright, booming laugh, slinging a heavy arm around Nash’s shoulders.
“Alright, little guy!” Asta grinned widely.
“Eat a huge breakfast, because starting today, your training is going to be brutal!”
Shortly after breakfast, Father Orsi, Sister Lily, and Yuno joined Asta and Nash inside the new bathhouse to help put the final touches on the layout.
Working together, they hauled and aligned the four wooden bathtubs—positioning two on the boys’ side and two on the girls’ side, fitting them securely against the drainage grooves Asta had carved into the floorboards.
Father Orsi wiped his brow, admiring the clean, sturdy setup.
“Well, that handles our bath situation!
I never thought we’d see the day.”
Asta dusted off his hands, eyeing the inner frame of the bathhouse with a thoughtful look before turning his gaze back toward the main church building outside.
“This is just the start,” Asta said, gesturing toward the old, cramped living quarters.
“Once I get more timber from the forest, I’m planning to break down and rebuild all the church rooms, one by one.
We can replace these drafty walls, fix the leaky roof, and give everyone proper individual spaces instead of having us all crammed together.”
Recca’s eyes widened, but then her face fell as she thought about the logistics.
“Wait…
if you destroy the rooms one by one, where are we supposed to sleep while you’re rebuilding them?”
Before Asta could reply, Yuno stepped forward, his expression calm and confident.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Yuno said, a slight smirk touching his lips as a gentle breeze churned around his hand.
“With my Wind Magic carrying the timber and positioning the heavy beams, Asta and I can finish each room in a single morning.
No one will have to sleep outside.”
Asta grinned, slinging an arm over Yuno’s shoulder.
“That’s what I’m talking about!
With the two of us working together, it’ll be done in no time!”
The younger kids cheered, relieved by Yuno’s reassurance.
Suddenly, frantic shouts and screaming echoed from the direction of the village fields outside!
“HELP!
SOMEONE HELP!”
“IT’S DESTROYING THE CROPS!”
The commotion instantly cut through the cheerful atmosphere inside the bathhouse.
Yuno’s gaze sharpened toward the open doorway.
“I’ll go check it out,” Yuno said, stepping past the threshold and summoning a gust of wind beneath his feet as he hurried toward the village square.