Chapter 317 Food Preservation
Since Aleshia was in the middle of eating when they asked the question, her response came out as garbled mumbles that were difficult to understand. Seeing that no one understood her, she tried to eat quickly, and after swallowing, she repeated, "Yeah, that's true. Cecelia helped prepare the meal and cooked it with me," Aleshia confirmed.
The party looked at Cecelia, who was beaming with pride over her work, and began praising her while clapping their hands. Once her delight reached its peak, they returned to their meal. With a satisfied smile still on her face, Cecelia approached her meal with renewed passion, enriching the experience for everyone, all thanks to the enjoyable atmosphere she had created around the meal.
After everyone had enjoyed a bowl or two, the children began to stream out, their bellies full and patting their stomachs. It seemed there would be leftovers. To preserve the food, Aleshia told the helpers that she could if they would gather all the food and place it in one spot; she could preserve it in a block of ice.
A little while later, after everyone had eaten their fill, the helpers gathered the leftover food and placed it all back on the platter as requested. Aleshia then started preserving the food by conjuring a ball of water, submerging the food in it, and freezing it. The outcome was a solid block of frozen food as she had expected.
For those watching, it was an impressive display, with gasps escaping their lips and astonishment clear on the faces of the helpers. Once they recovered, they began exclaiming, "Wow, I can't believe she was able to do something like this!" and "If we use the cold from this, we could potentially preserve everything in our pantry." Meanwhile, someone else attempted to lift the block of ice into their arms.
When they came to their senses, they began trying to lift it together. As they attempted to carry the ice blocks, they struggled with the task because it was too cold for their hands and arms to hold on without frequently having to let go. Some tried to remedy the situation by using their shirts to cover their arms and shield themselves from the cold. While this approach helped somewhat, it wasn't enough to solve the problem completely.
After seeing their predicament, Aleshia asked Lucia to help them bring the block of ice into the storage pantry. Lucia agreed. Using her power, she began to levitate the block of ice and placed it into the pantry. Afterward, the people who had been trying to move the ice blocks expressed their gratitude.