As he was being dragged by his big sister, Lucas wasn't quite sure what to feel.
The prospect of his soap business taking off was exciting to him, not just because he was making money, but also because he was bringing smiles to so many people's faces. Improving the quality of life of everyone around him would improve his own quality of life, that was a fundamental philosophy that Lucas seemed to have inherited from the one whose memories he had obtained.
On the other hand, Lucas was still just a child, and spending all his time discussing products and payments with the adults while the other kids his age were having fun and playing games seemed wrong somehow.
In the end, Lucas decided to just go with the flow.
After his breakthrough at the end of the last year, when his secret was exposed to Senior Farah, Lucas had experienced a true moment of helplessness and had sworn to work hard to get stronger. He had redoubled his efforts in his training and in his cultivation, pushing himself hard for an entire month before his little body had given out.
Falling sick, Lucas ran a fever for several days and even after that broke, it had taken another 10 days for him to fully recover.
It was after that experience that Lucas realized that even if he raced ahead with all his might, there was only so far he could push himself and only so much he could do on his own. Gaining wealth and becoming stronger were long-term goals that would take years, decades, or even longer to achieve. There was no point in charging ahead recklessly in an attempt to secure some distant future if he ruined his present in the process.
He was, after all, still a kid.
Having learned this life lesson, and also knowing he couldn't fight back against his big sister, especially on her birthday, Lucas gave in and decided to fully enjoy himself for now.
Brought back over to the children's side of the party, Lucas had no trouble switching his mindset, quickly going from haggling over material prices to haggling over the juiciest piece of boar meat.
It was such a seamless transition that many of the adults who witnessed it found themselves dumbfounded. Butcher Kirk was even torn between laughter and tears, realizing again that he had been outfoxed by a boy who was younger than any of his own kids.
Food was eaten, games were played, stories were told, songs were sung, and a merry time was had all around.
"Aunty Sasha, did you put the bucket into the fridge?" Lucas asked quietly, just having escaped from Eris' grasp. He liked his big sister very much, but being paraded around in front of all the kids while she praised him for being a genius repeatedly was just too embarrassing.
Looking at the slightly haggard expression on Lucas' face, Sasha couldn't help laughing lightly and nodding, "Don't worry, I made sure to move it half-an-hour ago. It should be ready now, right?"
"En," Lucas nodded back, "It's too hard to scoop when it's completely frozen, but we also don't want to let it thaw too much or it will melt. Now is probably the perfect time to serve it."
Having said so, Lucas suddenly frowned as he found himself looking around, wondering if he had made enough of his special treat for everyone here to have.
Lucas estimated he had made nearly 25 litres of his redberry ice cream, which he thought had been excessive at the time, but now he was worrying it might be too little.
"It'll be fine," Sasha comforted, noticing the frown on her little nephew's face, "If we serve it together with the hard sweet bread, there will be plenty."
The hard sweet bread Sasha was talking about was something similar to a cookie, though, ironically, not nearly as sweet. However, this was still a relatively high-end dessert for a place like Redwood Town where, on the rare occasion there was an after-meal treat, it was usually a piece of fruit.
Thinking about it, Lucas agreed that the combination would be good. He also made a mental note to redouble his efforts to find a local source of sugar. With sugar, all kinds of new and exciting menu items would become available.
Maybe I can try extracting it from lych trees? Lucas thought to himself.
After many experiments, Lucas found that the best wood-ash to make lye out of came from burning krast trees, with lych trees not working nearly as well and redwoods not working at all; however, lych trees somewhat reminded him of a type of tree from his inherited memories called maples, which he knew you could get syrup and even sugar from if you boiled down their sap.
It was an exciting prospect!
Lych trees weren't as common as redwoods or krasts in the nearby section of the Great Western Forest, but there were still thousands of them well within walking distance of town.
If he could really extract sugar from lych trees, Lucas would have an unlimited supply of sugar for himself! An unlimited supply of sugar would allow him to make so many more foods!
The mere thought set off an explosion of ideas in Lucas' mind, but he quickly shook off these fanciful dreams and returned to reality. This was a matter for later.
For now, it was time for ice cream.
While Eris' attention was fully focused on the unladylike arm-wrestling competition she was participating in, Lucas, Sasha, Anna, Helen, and Grace all quietly slipped out of the party and back into the kitchen. Only these 5 knew about Lucas' special surprise, so they were naturally the ones who had to prepare it.
Lucas' mother Anna went out to the cold-storage room to get the main ingredient while Sasha, Helen, and Grace busied themselves gathering enough bowls to use for serving the frozen treat.
As for Lucas, having spent many days in the Town Lord Manor's kitchen recently, he went straight to the pantry and rummaged through it until he found a big box of hard sweet bread.
There would normally not be such a large amount of snacks in the kitchen, but in anticipation of today's celebrations, Sasha had put in a large order to Baker Jerry's shop, which the slightly chubby man had brought along with his daughters to the party.
Since many big celebrations over the years had been held at the Manor, there was fortunately more than enough dishes and cutlery to go around. Soon, 160 wooden bowls and spoons were laid out on the biggest table in the kitchen.
Just as Sasha, Helen, and Grace were finishing up laying out the bowls, Anna returned with a large metal bucket and placed it right in the centre of the table before pulling off the lid. Inside was a light pink mixture that despite being frozen still gave off an alluring aroma.
Next, Lucas ran around placing palm sized pieces of sweet bread into the bowls as the four ladies surrounded the ice cream bucket from all sides and used big metal spoon to dig into it.
Keeping in mind that everyone at the party needed a serving, only one large scoop of ice cream was placed in each bowl.
Knowing that this dessert would melt if they didn't act fast enough, the team of 5 moved their hands quickly.
The first to finish their task was naturally Lucas, who then grabbed a big platter which he piled the finished desserts onto before carrying them out to the hall.
When he returned back, Lucas brought several others with him, including his father, to serve as waiters.
Together with the reinforcements, the special birthday desserts were all out the doors of the kitchen within 3 minutes.
Walking back out into the hall, Sasha clapped her hands loudly to get everyone's attention before calling out, "Dessert is served! It's a treat called redberry ice cream. Please head over to the tables to get yourselves a bowl right away as it is a frozen treat and will melt if left for too long."
As usual, hearing that there was some new kind of dessert, many people had their interest piqued, but when Sasha described this 'ice cream' as a frozen food, most of the adults couldn't help having some doubts. It was currently the end of the third month of the year, and winter had just barely ended, so it wasn't like it was particularly warm outside. Eating something with the word 'ice' in its name didn't seem appropriate.
Quiet to the contrary, the children, always eager for desserts, had no such qualms. Under the lead of the especially enthusiastic birthday girl, they all charged over to the banquet tables and began grabbing the bowls of ice cream.
The moment Eris heard 'dessert' and 'redberry', she was already convinced she would like whatever new concoction her mother had come up with, having no idea that the true inventor of this dish was Lucas.
Eris wasn't a fussy eater in the first place; at meal times, her primary concern was how much food there was, rather than how delicious it tasted. That being said, the things Sasha cooked were generally quite yummy, so it wasn't an exaggeration to say Eris was greatly looking forward to this new dessert.
Although she was eager to sample the pink concoction in front of her, Eris still made sure that all her friends had gotten a serving for themselves first.
Whether this was due to Eris having an innate sense of kindness, or it was her actually remembering her mother's lessons about proper etiquette and being a good host, no one would ever know. However, as soon as all the kids had their desserts, Eris immediately scooped a big spoonful of ice cream out of her bowl and shoved it into her mouth.
The instant the ice cream hit her tongue, Eris froze, as if an explosion had just gone off inside her head, destroying her ability to think or even speak. It wasn't until a good 30 seconds later that Eris' brain began working again and a look of pure delight blossomed on her face.
So sweet, so creamy, so good!!
This was, by far, the most delectable treat Eris had ever eaten in her life, better than any sweet fruit preserve or honey covered nut blend. The closest thing the young girl could relate it to was the shaved ice and fruit juice her mother sometimes made, but this redberry ice cream was superior in every way imaginable to even that.
Before today, Eris had never imagined that something could be so delicious, and she was not alone in that thought. All the children, upon having their first taste of ice cream, reacted in an almost identical manner to the birthday girl, the only difference being how long they remained stunned.
"Wow!"
"Amazing!"
"What is this? It's so good!"
Cheers soon rang out as the kids all heaped praise onto the new dessert in-between taking more spoonfuls into their mouths.
Seeing this, the adults, who had held themselves back at first, could no longer contain their curiosity and began making their way over to the banquet tables.
Less than a minute later, the scene of people stunned into silence before bursting into jubilation repeated itself.
"This is truly marvelous!"
"I've never had anything like it before!"
"Just how was this made? From the name, it sounds like it's only frozen cream, but it can't possibly be that simple!"
Many of the adults, and even some of the kids, had worried that a frozen dessert wouldn't be very appealing given the chilly weather outside, but with several fireplaces burning in the Town Lord Manor's main hall, and with so many warm bodies present, the refreshing coolness, the burst of fruit flavour, and the rich sweetness of this ice cream was simply intoxicating.
Within minutes, the small portion of redberry ice cream in everyone's bowl disappeared, and looks of bliss and longing soon spread across all the faces of the invited guests.
It was official, ice cream was a huge hit!