Picnic (3)

Suddenly a thought came to Ivan and he too entered the conversation.

"How about letting her go to a normal school?"

"A normal school? And what would be the use of that?", Lara asked with disdain.

"I mean a normal school for youths who are older than sixteen. Just make a story up as to why she is still small and it could work."

"That may work, but what would be the use?", the Lady asked.

"She could be together with people with similar stats while nobody knows that she is much younger. If she uses Training Skills, it won't show until she reaches fifty in her stats and since the training at school is set up in a way that fifty is the goal for graduation, her talent wouldn't be as visible if she doesn't train her body during this time. Besides the people at these schools are much more mature than children of her age so she would fit in much better."

"This idea doesn't sound bad.", Lara had to admit.

The lady too had a thoughtful look at her face while looking at Jane, who seemed to be enthused by his idea.

"What do you think darling?", she finally asked her granddaughter.

"I like it! I'm sure it is gonna be so much fun."

Hearing her daughters excited words Lara nodded.

"Let's try it. But you won't be going to the same school as Ivan."

"Why?"

"She is right. It would be better for you to go to another school.", Ivan too was of that opinion. After all it would be a nightmare if anyone found out that they were daughter and father. How weird would it be if they would both go to the same school.

With that it was decided that she would go to school while pretending to be sixteen and it would be a different school than Ivans.

The little girl, didn't insist and instead grabbed his mothers hand and tugged at it.

"Whatever, let's go and start the picnic."

Both her mother and grandmother smiled at her and then followed along. Ivan on the other hand was called over by Carl who stood at the trunk of the car and opened it.

"Come here rascal. You'r job is to help me carry these baskets."

Inside the trunk there were three baskets and Carl had grabbed the smallest and of course lightest while leaving him the other two. Ivan wanted to complain, but fearing that it would only gain him some form of punishment he swallowed his words and obediently took the other two baskets, before following after his mentor.

The site choose for the picnic was a wonderful meadow wich was surrounded by forest on three sides, while the last one was a small beach, which gave access to a wonderful clear lake, which really invited someone to go for a swim.

When Ivan saw the view as he entered the meadow he couldn't help but sight in admiration. This view was just to different than what he had gotten used to. Even though the campus too had parks they were different. They just didn't give him the same feeling as the majestic trees which framed this meadow.

Seeing Ivan standing there with a look of admiration the others broke out in laughter.

"Haha, you have never seen something like this right?"

"Yes, it is beautiful."

"Then after you finish admiring it come help me put down the blankets so we have something to sit on."

Soon he shook himself out of his reverie and went to help his mentor to put down the two big blankets for them to sit on. They then opened the baskets which were filled with food and drinks. He wondered why they didn't just put all of these things into their inventories.

His mentor leaned towards him and asked in a whisper, "I'm sure you are wondering why we don't use our inventory, right?"

He nodded and Carl gave him the answer, "It is because of the atmosphere. Lara has always been of the opinion that using your inventory for everything will lead to you forgetting about enjoying the simple things. She learned that from my father who took this philosophy to the extreme."

Ivan could see the logic behind it, after all if everything was to comfortable and easy one would forget to value these things and the work others may have put into it. It was like training skills. If one would only learn the skills through skill books, then how would one be able to really understand them and use them in the most optimal way, not even mentioning improving them.

Seeing that he understood the reasoning Carl nodded in satisfaction, it seemed his student wasn't spoiled by the living style at the alliance.

They chatted and played some games together until it was time for lunch. All the food was designed to be eaten while cold and it consisted of sandwiches, fruits, vegetables and other more complicated delicacies. Especially the content of the small basket was awesome.

Seeing the admiration in his eyes the lady smiled at him and asked, "Do you like it? I made it myself."

"It looks awesome, ma'm", because of her aura he decided to use a respectful form of address.

"You don't have to be so respectful. Just call me Miranda or mother, after all I am your mother in law.", she said with a grin, which only widened when she saw the look of shock on her daughters face.

"What? Did you really think I wouldn't know?", she then asked her daughter with a playful smile on her face.

"Um", Lara had no answer for her question because she herself knew that it would have been impossible to hide it from her mother who was even better informed than her father when it concerned family matters.

"Does daddy know?"

"What do you think?"

"Yeah, if he knew he would already have gone ballistic but since he hasn't come over he shouldn't be aware of it."