Sasha and Lucas had both sampled the ice cream beforehand, for quality assurance purposes of course, so they had expected this kind of reaction and it would be a lie to say they weren't feeling a bit smug.
In fact, they were just about to share a secret congratulations when suddenly, they felt many gazes land on them, gazes filled with an intensity that unconsciously made them retreat.
Before she could even blink, Sasha was surrounded by dozens of people, all showering her with praise for her wonderful invention while clamouring for the recipe.
Sasha was a competent administrator, and it was no secret that she was the one who was really in charge of managing the Newton Barony, but she never acted aloof or arrogantly. On the contrary, she was friendly and approachable, always willing to help out around town with everything from settling trade disputes to harvesting wheat from the fields.
In short, the citizens of Redwood Town felt no sense of distance from Sasha despite her being the Town Lady and could freely speak their minds in front of her. It was for this reason that so many of them, from the well-off merchants to the ordinary housewives, all felt comfortable asking her to share the secrets to the delicious ice cream.
It wasn't the first time Sasha had dealt with large crowds before, but rarely had she ever been bombarded so intensely. What made her even more aggrieved was that despite helping out and even fronting some of the expense of creating ice cream, the true inventor of it was Lucas.
Since Lucas was just a boy, and her likely future son-in-law, Sasha felt a sense of protectiveness towards him. She didn't want to expose him too much, but also didn't want to take credit for all his innovations. As such, she stealthily glanced over towards her right, hoping to get Lucas to cooperate with her to resolve this mess.
However, when she turned her head, Sasha was shocked to discover that the boy she was so desperately trying to protect was actually trying to sneak away while the mob was focused on her!
Seeing this, Sasha couldn't help feeling her face twitch slightly.
Here she was, enduring the pressure of so many people to protect him, but instead of trying to share the burden, this little boy's first thought was actually to escape!
The nerve!
"Lucas!" Suddenly, a voice cut through the crowd.
It was young, and vibrant, and filled with adoration as it cried out, "How did you come up with this amazing dessert!?"
Lucas, having been called out by his Big Sister Eris, froze stiff as he felt dozens of eyes shift towards him in an instant.
Tears began welling up in the young boy's eyes as he couldn't help cursing to himself, Damn it, I was so close to getting away!
Still, Lucas didn't lose hope and quickly composed himself, putting on his best child-like smile, tilting his head, and asking in an unusually loud voice, "Big Sister Eris, what are you talking about? It was Aunty Sasha who made the ice cream."
Technically, what he was saying wasn't a lie. Sasha indeed was the one who 'made' the ice cream, what Lucas neglected to mention was that she was doing so following his recipe and instructions.
Unfortunately for Lucas, Eris didn't believe him. Shaking her head vigorously, she declared in a pure, innocent tone, "Mom can't make something so delicious! On top of that, you're the one who keeps coming up with all the new and wonderful things, so it must have been you who invented this ice cream!"
Hearing this, most of the adults really began to wonder if it was true; after all, it was public knowledge that Lucas was the one who invented soap, a product all of them were scrambling to get their hands on. If the boy could come up with something so novel and useful, it shouldn't be impossible for him to also come up with a new kind of delicious dessert.
As for the children, who had also gathered around, they didn't care who invented ice cream, there was only one question on their mind right now.
Was there any more?
There was only one way to uncover what the truth was, so the adults in the hall turned back to Sasha, silently asking for her to enlighten them.
Lucas also turned a pleading gaze towards his aunt, but upon seeing her slightly narrowed eyes, the tiny wrinkle on her brow, and the wide grin on her face, he knew he was screwed.
Sasha had already been annoyed that Lucas was trying to leave her holding the bag; then, when he got caught, he actually tried to use sophistry to shift everyone's attention back onto her.
To make matters worse, her own daughter had openly insulted her! What did Eris mean when she said she couldn't make something so delicious? She had to teach her disobedient daughter a harsh lesson when this was all over!
To put it simply, Sasha wasn't in a particularly charitable mood right now, so with a cunning smile, she openly announced, "Indeed! It was Lucas who came up with the idea of making ice cream, and he was also the one who perfected the recipe. All I did was assist him a bit. He was so enthusiastic about it too! Wanting to come up with the most delicious dessert for my Eris' birthday. Truly, I am so proud of my smart little nephew!"
Not wanting to give the slippery boy any chances to wiggle his way out, while she was re-directing everyone's attention to him, Sasha dashed over and grabbed Lucas, pulling him into a tight embrace, as if she really couldn't be prouder of him.
Everyone began applauding and praising the boy, calling him a genius and hailing him as a great inventor.
In response, Lucas's face turned bright red as he lowered his head.
To outside observers, it looked like he was too embarrassed and didn't know what to say, but only Lucas knew that the real reason he was holding his tongue was because of the death-grip his aunt had him in, making it hard for him to even breath.
It wasn't until some 20 seconds later that Sasha finally released Lucas and set him back down on the ground, but if the boy thought his punishment for betraying her was over, he was deeply mistaken.
Before Lucas could even catch his breath, Sasha announced loudly, "If any of you have questions about this new ice cream, you should ask Lucas. He's the one who knows the most about it by far, and I'm sure he'll be happy to explain about it to you!"
After pinning him down and driving a dagger into his back, Sasha flashed a genuinely happy smile at Lucas before roughly smacking him on the shoulder and walking off, abandoning him to the wolves like he had tried to do to her just now.
…..
Roughly half-an-hour passed before Lucas was finally released by the crowd.
Between being pestered by his friends for more ice cream, or at least a promise that when more was made he would share it with them, and all the adults trying everything they could to get the recipe from him, Lucas found himself thoroughly exhausted.
Eris didn't help the situation either; in fact, she only made it worse by continuing to exclaim about how smart and meticulous he was, making it all but impossible for him to brush off his creation of ice cream as mere 'luck' or a 'coincidence'.
Fortunately, it wasn't like Lucas wanted to conceal how to make ice cream in the first place. Sure, it was a delicious dessert that was new and never seen before, but it also wasn't something that could be easily replicated even if you knew the recipe.
The first requirement to making ice cream was getting the necessary ingredients, which included a large amount of honey. This step alone made it prohibitively expensive for most people to even consider eating outside of some big celebratory event.
Rick, the biggest peddler in town and the one Lucas and Sasha had bought much of their honey from, confirmed that the pair had spent some 6 Gold Coins on this ingredient alone.
6 Gold Coins!
That was more than an ordinary labourer in Redwood Town earned in half-a-year of hard work! All for a small amount of ice cream! When they learned this, many of the inquiring adults were shocked, feeling like they had straight-up eaten Silver Coins just now!
Of course, Lucas 'neglected' to mention that those 6 Gold Coins worth of honey were used to make nearly twice as much ice cream as was served today, half of which had to be thrown out because it was ruined in the experimental process.
The richest families present spent at most 50 Coppers on food for a day, and that was considered extravagant, so the notion of adding another 50 Coppers for a few small bowls of this frozen dessert was absurd.
Even if there was someone willing to spend that kind of money on this creamy treat, the fact that producing it involved freezing the liquid mixture, then keeping it frozen before it was eaten, made making ice cream impossible for most people.
There were maybe 5 Chilling and Freezing Tools in Redwood Town, two of which were in the Town Lord's Manor, so there really wasn't anyone else who could create ice cream unless it was the middle of winter and it had just snowed heavily. But who would want to stand outside in the freezing cold just to make a frozen dessert?
After realizing the difficulty of making ice cream, most of the townsfolk gave up on the idea, instead just encouraging Lucas to let them know if he ever made more of it himself. While they might not be able to make it, buying a little from the boy on special occasions shouldn't be a problem, right?
The only one who didn't give up and didn't seem discouraged was Peddler Rick. As one of the few people in Redwood Town capable of supplying large amounts of honey, and as a businessman himself, Rick naturally had some ideas about Lucas' latest invention.
Soap was a luxury item Rick desperately wanted more of, but no matter how he tried, Lucas refused to disclose anything about its production method. As such, the crafty peddler could only settle for trying to bulk purchase bars of soap to re-sell later.
On the other hand, Lucas had already been forced to cough up the basic recipe for ice cream. This frozen dessert might not be affordable to those in Redwood Town, but there were many wealthy folks in Harold City who wouldn't bat an eye at spending a few Silvers on a single meal!
If Rick could find a way to mass-produce ice cream, he could surely make a killing!
It was easy for Lucas to tell what Rick was thinking as the latter didn't even try to hide his thoughts, but the boy figured he had given enough hints already, so he casually side-stepped any talks of another business partnership.
Lucas already had so many projects on the go, on top of having to spend an increasing amount of time training and cultivating, so he wasn't prepared to go into selling ice cream right now. Perhaps he would consider it in the future, but he wasn't in any rush.
If Peddler Rick figured out how to make ice cream, market it, and make a profit, Lucas would just wish him well and hope that new flavours of ice cream would become available soon.
All that was left now for Lucas to do was figure out how to get his Big Sister Eris to not constantly bug him for more ice cream in the future, a task he had little confidence he would succeed at.