Eris, as the little princess of Redwood Town, was naturally quite popular; however, having 150 people over for a simple birthday celebration was obviously a bit much.
Had Eris been the only daughter of a Count, who ruled over a city of tens of thousands, then hosting a party with a couple hundred people would be perfectly normal, and that was to say nothing of the extravaganzas which the Earls and Marquess held for their children. However, Charles Newton was a mere Baron, who governed fewer than 8,000 people across 1 town and 14 villages.
That was why, while the young children were mainly here to enjoy Eris' birthday feast and play with their friends, the adults were here more for a kind of town meeting.
Eris' birthday just happened to coincide with the end of winter and the start of spring, and for a rural place like Redwood Town, this meant it was a time of transition from mostly staying inside to beginning work outdoors.
Fields needed to be tilled, animals needed to gaze, roads needed repairing, and many, many more tasks were just waiting to be tackled. The end of March was a good time to celebrate the safe passing of the cold season and also to plan for the coming year.
Understanding the barely hidden reason for this big party, Lucas had suggested that instead of having everyone sit down to have their meal, which was how banquets were normally done in the Rockwell Kingdom, Sasha, Grace, Helen, and several others from around town had set up a 'buffet', where all the foods were laid out at several big tables and people could just help themselves.
Whole roasted boar, steamed river fish, freshly baked flatbread, pickled vegetables, the banquet tables were piled high with dishes. It was a testament to the prosperity of their little town that so much food could be brought out right after winter without worrying about anyone going hungry.
Of course, this kind of rich bounty wasn't just some kind of fortunate accident, it took hard work and cooperation from all the townsfolk and villagers.
As Eris ran around, chatting and laughing with all her friends, the adults also got together in groups of 5 or 6 and discussed the various issues that needed resolving in and around town.
"We should consider opening up some new fields further south of town."
"But we already opened up new farmland last year to the west, we might not have enough labour if we continue to expand."
"Nonsense, even if we can't use all the land right away, there's no reason not to clear it. With more fertile land available, it will be easy to attract more settlers."
"You want to attract more settlers? I'm not sure that's a good idea. The town is peaceful and prosperous right now, but if we bring in too many outsiders, won't it disrupt our lives?"
"There are over 3,000 people in Redwood Town, and another 5,000 or so in the local villages! Adding another 100 or 200 people won't be an issue. We can even use the felled trees from clearing new land to build new homes. It's the perfect plan!"
Many such exchanges were going on as Eris was showing her new dress off to the other girls her age, all of whom were quite envious, with Jenny and Jessie even making a note to ask their father, Jerry the baker, to get new dresses for them too.
Everything was going smoothly, and Sasha couldn't help nodding happily as she watched the children frolic, the adults mingle, and the food she had put all her effort into rapidly disappear.
If Sasha had to point out one thing that seemed out of place, it would be her little nephew Lucas, who instead of throwing darts or bowling with the other boys, two activities that he introduced to everyone in the first place, he was actually huddled together with a crowd of peddlers and shopkeepers.
Sasha had a pretty good idea what Lucas was up to, and when she walked over and caught bits and pieces of the ongoing conversation, she confirmed it was indeed as she had suspected.
Rolling her eyes, Sasha couldn't believe that this 9-year-old boy was actually treating her daughter's birthday party as a chance to strike business deals with the town's merchants.
Still, knowing how stubborn Lucas could be, a trait he inherited from his mother Anna, and as the largest investor in Lucas' fledgling enterprise, Sasha decided the best thing she could do was join in the negotiations to make sure her business partner wasn't being taken advantage of by these wily old foxes.
"1 Silver 10 Coppers?! I can't sell you a whole bucket of fat trimmings for so little, I'll go broke!"
"Really? But Butcher Farah sells it to me even cheaper than that."
"Farah is Farah, I am me."
"What if I offered you a discount on my soap, then? 95 Coppers for a bar in exchange for fat scraps at my quoted price."
Kirk, another butcher in town, couldn't help knitting his brow in contemplation. He had been buying Cleaning Solution from Lucas for a few months already, and had been quite appreciative of the young boy's product as it made scrubbing down his shop much easier than before.
After Lucas had introduced him to soap earlier this month, however, Kirk had instantly fallen in love with the product.
Not only was soap less harsh on his hands and cleaning rags, it was far more versatile, able to be used to clean just about anything, even himself!
It was such a wonderous invention, with so many uses, that after his wife Dahlia tried it out one day by chance, she had instantly confiscated the only bar Kirk had and refused to give it back to him!
Now, nearly a month on, Lucas had come to him to strike a deal about purchasing fat scraps, presumably to expand his soap business. Kirk had initially thought that given the boy's youth and inexperience, he could get himself a very favourable bargain, earning both profit and goodwill from Lucas.
He wasn't planning on ripping-off the young boy, as that would be foolish given how small and close-knit Redwood Town was, but Kirk certainly didn't mind gaining some small advantages.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Butcher Kirk to realize he wasn't dealing with some naïve boy. In fact, if it weren't for him being so short, and his voice not having dropped yet, Kirk would have sworn he was haggling with an old miser, determined to squeeze every last Copper out of him.
The contrast between the innocent smile on Lucas' face and the cutthroat contract he was offering nearly caused Kirk to faint from exasperation.
Still, the boy refused to back down, and with good reason. There was no one else who could produce the miraculous soap, and Lucas knew it. He could ask for whatever he wanted, and Kirk would have no choice but to agree, especially with his wife standing next to him, not so subtly pinching his arm to 'encourage' him.
Gritting through the pain, both financial and physical, Kirk finally relented, "Fine fine, 1 Silver 10 Coppers!"
Striking while the iron was hot, Lucas reached out his little hand, a cunning glint flashing past his eyes as he said happily, "Pleasure doing business with you, Uncle Kirk!"
"Hmph, you still have the nerve to call me uncle, you crafty brat?" Kirk snorted before also shaking on the deal.
Seeing the men, or rather the boy and man, conclude their negotiations, Kirk's wife promptly shoved her husband out of the way and reached out to grab Lucas' shoulders, her posture akin to that of a feral cat and her eyes shining like a predator's as she asked pointedly, "Lucas dear, when will you have more of your soap available?"
"Yes yes, when will you be selling it again?"
"If you have some, please sell some to me too!"
"And me!"
"Uh…" Lucas was taken aback by the 'enthusiasm' some of the people around him were showing for his soap, especially the women, each of whom looked like they wanted to devour him whole right here and now.
"Now now ladies, give the boy some space," Sasha chimed in from the side, coming to Lucas' rescue.
Stepping forward, Sasha parted the crowd and quickly arrived by the boy's side, patting him on the head before turning a polite smile to the excited women around her, "I'm sure all of you can imagine how difficult and expensive it is to produce such a fine product, and little Lucas here has only just gotten started. Of course he won't have much to sell right away."
There was some light grumbling and complaining amongst the prospective customers, but most of them still nodded. Soap was a revolutionary new product that could easily clean clothes, pots, pans, and even skin and hair, but its inventor was still just a 9-year-old boy. Business had started this month, so it was perfectly reasonable to think Lucas didn't have enough supply of his product yet.
Noting that most of the crowd had calmed down, Sasha continued with the next step in her clever plan, "How about we do it like this. Lucas told me that the next batch of soap should be ready at the beginning of next month, and there is twice as much as last time. Anyone who wants to buy soap here today can pay a small deposit to reserve a few bars from this batch."
The idea of putting down a deposit to reserve goods wasn't strange to these people, so most of them readily agreed to this proposal, thinking this was the best way to secure more soap for themselves.
The next question was how much should the deposit be, and how many bars of soap each of them could pre-purchase.
Having handled the social pressure, Sasha turned to Lucas, prompting him to take over the business aspect.
Thinking on his feet, Lucas estimated that there were about 50 different families represented here today. These 50 families accounted for nearly half of the 'upper-class' in Redwood Town, the ones who ran businesses or owned big farms and could afford to spend 5 or 6 silver a month on luxury goods without much difficulty.
Considering he had 200 bars of soap curing back in his father's smithy, not counting the personal supply he kept separate for his family, his Aunt Sasha, and Senior Farah, Lucas figured the best offer he could make was 4 bars per family, at 25 Coppers a bar for the deposit.
Lucas thought that most people would order 1 or 2 bars, while only a few would put in a request for 4. This way, even those who didn't show up to the party today would have a chance to buy some once word spread.
Immediately after quoting his price though, Lucas was bombarded with orders, with various people all but shoving Silver Coins into his hands.
Within minutes, all 200 bars of soap he was currently preparing had been snapped up, and Lucas had the equivalent of 5 Gold Coins falling out of his fingers.
Forget Lucas, even Sasha was shocked by the enthusiasm the crowd had shown for soap. It took her a while to recover and begin taking down the names of those who had just handed over their money to reserve bars for themselves.
Exchanging a glance, both Lucas and Sasha realized that they had struck gold, and that they needed to find a way to quickly increase production.
The demand in Redwood Town and the local villages for soap would probably soon be saturated, but among those who just made reservations with Lucas were several peddlers who frequently did business among the local villages.
A few of these enterprising merchants even traveled to the nearest major settlement, Harold City, which was a few days away by carriage and had 10 times the population of Redwood Town.
If the smaller towns and villages around Harold City were counted as well, then that number jumped to 30 times the inhabitants.
Once Lucas' soap was introduced to those markets, there was no doubt it would create a massive spike in demand!
This was an opportunity that couldn't be missed, so they had to start preparing right away.
As Sasha was busy taking names, and Lucas was trying to find a way to expand production, Eris, the supposed star of the party, pushed her way through the crowd and grabbed her little brother, shouting in a somewhat unhappy tone, "Lucas! It's my birthday today! Stop spending all your time with the grown-ups and come play!"