Chapter 338: Completely Different Family Development Models

About five or six li upstream from the castle moat, there’s a shallow beach. This leisure area was intentionally created by Will, Lilith, and others, and it’s the only suitable place to land and relax within a hundred li of the river, both upstream and downstream.

Katelyn Kope was definitely a rigorously trained housekeeper. She quickly directed a few maids to set up a comfortable camp, complete with tents, parasols, carpets, tables and chairs, fruits, red tea, and even a barbecue grill, essential for a picnic.

Will, Lilith, and the others watched the professional maids busy themselves, a line of black forming on their foreheads. It seemed their understanding of an outing was quite different from Yuna Peck’s.

Tents were essential, and there were a few carpets, but other items were more casual. Wizard Stardashan brought a fishing rod, Will brought a fishing net, Rhea brought fruit, Luo brought a fishing spear, and Via brought a cloth doll.

And Lilith?

Haha, she didn’t know about it beforehand, so she brought nothing. If she absolutely had to bring something, would her personal sword count? Nicole and Mimi were the same; you can’t expect a one or two-year-old child to have the wisdom to prepare things themselves. Nicole was originally on patrol and skipped work halfway through to follow along.

What’s the fun of camping? Doing it yourself.

Via and Mimi were the center of attention for everyone. Rhea and Lilith revolved around Via, while Will held the soft Mimi and played with her. For some unknown reason, Mimi’s growth was very slow. Her clean, bright eyes gave people a very comfortable feeling, and her delicate cat ears twitched cutely.

“Bang!” A wooden stake as thick as an adult’s arm was driven three inches into the ground by the monstrous strength of Luo. This girl, who awakened her bloodline earlier than Will and Lilith, had barely grown in height this past year, only getting slightly fatter. She still didn’t look like a ten-year-old child; in fact, she was already eleven.

“Luo, tell big brother, what are you planning to make?” He let Mimi lie on his head; the cat had excellent balance and there was no need to worry about her falling off.

“Hammock.” Luo’s communication skills had greatly improved over the past year, but she still spoke slowly. Simple one or two-word sentences were fine, but anything over three words was a struggle and needed to be broken down.

“Why are you making a hammock here? Wouldn’t it be easier to use the trees over there?” Will said while helping her remove the splinters from the wooden stake. This girl’s methods were still so direct; was this a freshly broken branch?

“Distance, far.” Even three words had to be broken into two parts. Will rubbed her head, not forgetting the cat on his own head. “Alright, big brother will help you make a hammock today!”

Luo, with her awakened druid bloodline, loved the power of nature. The closer she was to nature, the more comfortable she felt. That’s why sleeping in Will’s Azure Moon Pearl domain was her favorite. Secondly, after coming here, she liked to run into the forest around the wizard tower, making the animals there scatter in a lively commotion.

Luo nodded, her eyes full of light. As long as someone accompanied her, she would be very well-behaved. Of course, if she was in too good a mood and wanted to help with work, you had to be careful. Although she had been blacksmithing for over a year and had good control over her strength, her power was still constantly increasing, and occasional loss of control was still possible.

A hammock is actually very simple; as long as there are enough materials, it can be made quickly. Will made three in one go. He used three thick wooden stakes arranged in an equilateral triangle, then connected them in pairs to create three small hammocks. Immediately after, he made a huge, low hammock, triangular in shape, filling all the space within the triangle with suspended fishing nets.

This way, even if these guys fell from the hammock, they would be caught by the fishing net.

The direct consequence of this was that Via, Mimi, and Luo all competed to roll off the hammock, then climb back onto the hammock from the swaying, suspended fishing net, and then roll off again, making the girls around them burst into laughter.

Drake City doesn’t have a strictly defined winter; the oceanic climate ensures that winters here aren’t too cold. Via and Mimi, being young and not having much strength, wore slightly thicker clothes, so they weren’t afraid of falling. The ground had been cleared of stones and covered with thick animal skin rugs. Luo, being a senior warrior, was even less afraid of this.

“Children are so good, a hammock can keep them entertained for half a day.” At some point, Yuna Peck, dressed as if for a banquet, walked over, looking a little enviously at the three mischief-makers. She wondered if she had ever been so boisterous since she was old enough to understand things.

“Didn’t you ever play like this when you were little?” Will asked casually.

Yuna Peck shook her head gently: “Ever since I was old enough to understand things, my family arranged very professional teachers to teach me everything a noble lady needed to know. I was never allowed to engage in any unladylike activities.”

“Will, this kind of commoner entertainment has no place in the Pink Family. Their family is run by a group of hypocritical and rigid old women who stifle the childish nature of everyone and meticulously cultivate a group of capable, scheming puppets.” Lilith, representing the Kendall family, and Yuna Peck, representing the Pink Family, were at odds and looked down on each other.

“It’s called caring for children’s growth, unlike your Kendall family. As soon as the family members multiply, you immediately split off a branch, find a random city, give them a little support, and then let them fend for themselves. The mixed quality is what defines your Kendall family.” Yuna Peck retorted Lilith’s words with disdain.

“It’s your Pink Family that’s stuck in the past and resistant to progress. From ancestors to descendants, you’re all puppets carved from the same mold. What is there to be proud of?”

Lilith scoffed at this kind of education. “A bunch of mediocre people, barely able to keep the family from declining, that’s their limit. To develop further? Difficult!”

“At least there won’t be any prodigal sons.” Yuna Peck firmly remembered the ancestral teaching, “One person can build a family, one person can destroy a family. The Peck family doesn’t need such great figures; it only needs to endure for ten thousand generations.”

“The Kendall family, with its flourishing branches and constant expansion, can also endure for ten thousand generations.” If the discussion were about personal matters, Lilith wouldn’t bother arguing with Yuna Peck. However, when it came to fundamental family strategies, Lilith couldn’t tolerate it. “The Kendall family branch in Drake City, merely a branch, possesses two Great Knights and two official wizards. Isn’t this the purpose of branching out? We have absolute autonomy here; if we wish, we can even disregard the main family’s orders, all for the family’s continuation.”

“Weakening the trunk to strengthen the branches, putting the cart before the horse. If exceptional talents emerged from our family branches, they would certainly be recruited to the capital for focused training immediately. With the strength of Uncle Wright and Big Sister Jasmine, they would undoubtedly have better development in the capital. The Drake City Kendall family has reached its permitted limit; their strength is wasted here.” Yuna Peck held a very high regard for the two Great Knights, Wright and Jasmine.

Lilith was silent for a moment, then shook her head gently: “If the strength of the branch families is drawn upon without restraint to strengthen the main family, how can the branch families endure? Without relative autonomy, excessive reliance on the main family will only cause the branch to lose its reason for existence.”

“A large tree only has one main trunk; the purpose of the branches is to provide nourishment to the trunk.” Yuna Peck knew her family’s strategy and strongly agreed with this analogy.

“A single tree does not make a forest. How can a single tree withstand the test of wind and rain? Only by forming a verdant canopy and working together can it last longer.” The Kendall family’s strategy, on the other hand, was to spread its branches and leaves, to grow endlessly. The two families had been arguing about this issue for thousands of years, never reaching a consistent answer. So, the two women simultaneously turned their gaze to Will.

Will was stunned for a moment, then pointed to his nose: “Me?”

“Student Will is Professor Weasel’s student and possesses considerable wisdom. I’m sure you can also see the benefits of unity and continuous inheritance, right?” Yuna Peck preempted, highlighting the advantages of her family’s heritage.

“Sailing against the current, if you don’t advance, you retreat. A single palm cannot clap, a single tree cannot stand alone; a hundred flowers blooming is true spring.” Lilith, not to be outdone, glared at Will, waiting for him to give her a satisfactory answer.

You two are asking me a question that your families have debated for hundreds of years without a conclusion? How could there possibly be an answer to that? So, Will immediately made his escape, using the excuse that Mimi was too young to endure repeated falls, leaving the two women staring at each other blankly, then simultaneously bursting into laughter.