Black clouds pressed down on the city, battle flags obscured the sun, and war fires raged for hundreds of miles.
On the desolate wasteland, the Demon Race Grand Marshal Feng Li Ge was pushed to the ground, his tattered armor letting out a mournful cry as he knelt.
Feng Li Ge, known as the Demon Race's foremost God of Slaughter, now had one of the horns on his head half-severed. His hands braced against the ground, his whole body trembling, clearly showing signs of defeat.
Around him, layer upon layer, stood the Eldaria Empire army, heavily armored, solemn, and exuding a murderous aura.
In seven months, the Demon Race's three-hundred-mile-long 'Thunder and Fire Defense Line' completely collapsed under the Eldaria Empire army's offensive. They advanced all the way to twenty miles outside Savieland's capital, Gustledin City. Of the five hundred thousand Demon Race soldiers, less than ten percent remained, and of the six renowned Demon Race commanders, only he was left.
And he chose to break his horn and surrender.
The glory of the Demon Race was utterly shattered at this moment.
Just then, something enormous overhead blocked the sky, and a low growl resounded. Feng Li Ge tremblingly looked up to see a massive black dragon, clad in silver-glowing armor, descending from the sky, its wings flapping.
A solemn horn blast sounded at this moment. All the imperial soldiers simultaneously turned, bowed their heads, and clapped their hands against their breastplates, producing a uniform clang of armor. They bowed in salute to the descending dragon.
The dragon landed, and the soldiers uniformly parted, creating a path directly to Feng Li Ge. All the soldiers stood like statues, exuding a cold, murderous aura.
A dull thud sounded as a figure descended from the dragon's back. He was over two meters tall, clad in heavy, dark iron armor. His black hair was wild and untamed like a lion's mane, and his fiery red cape behind him billowed in the strong winds like burning flames.
He slowly walked past his solemnly standing army and came before Feng Li Ge, his head held high, looking down at him with cold indifference.
Feng Li Ge felt as if he was being pressed into the dirt by this oppressive gaze.
It was this man before him who had torn apart the glory of the Savieland Empire.
He lowered his head, tremblingly raised his hands, and offered his half-severed horn, saying in a low, hoarse voice:
"Great Emperor Li En. Tanding, I... Feng Li Ge. Ingram, commander of Savieland's two armies... surrender to you..."
Lien looked at the defeated General Feng Li Ge, extended his hand, picked up the half-severed horn, and examined it with interest, speaking in a deep voice:
"We heard that two horns are the glory of your Isha royal family. If a horn is broken, it's equivalent to losing the reason to live."
"As long as... as long as Your Majesty spares my life, spares Gustledin City, and spares the people of the Isha royal family, I am willing to do anything for the Eldaria Empire," Feng Li Ge said.
"Surrender."
Lien snorted coldly:
"When you invaded Eldaria's borders and slaughtered tens of thousands of Our people, did you ever think you would be kneeling here today, begging Us for surrender?"
The cold words made Feng Li Ge tremble violently, his throat dry, unable to utter a single word.
Lien casually tossed the broken horn into the dust on the ground and said in a deep voice:
"Even if you offered your head, what of it? If those foolish Isha pigs cowering in the castle want to live, let Us see your resolve."
Feng Li Ge took a deep breath and took out a palm-sized, gold-carved box, offering it with both hands.
"This is the sacred artifact of the Savieland Empire royal family. Emperor Horton Rail entrusted it to me yesterday before his death, hoping that after Your Majesty obtains Gustledin City, you will spare the remaining members of the Isha royal family."
Lien gazed at the exquisitely carved iron box.
A royal sacred artifact, he naturally understood what this meant.
From now on, the Demon Race Empire of Savieland, spanning over five million square kilometers, would be his.
This would be another expansion for the Eldaria Empire. From now on, on the continent of Ilai, there would be only one emperor.
He slowly reached out and opened the box.
Inside was a diaper.
Pop.
His snot bubble burst. Li En. Tanding, or rather, Caesar now, awoke from his sweet dream.
An inexpressible look appeared on the baby's face.
"I wet my pants..."
....
"Uh... this one is for the butt, no, no, this one is for the tummy, then is this one for the face? Or this one?"
Yumilia held three different kinds of baby skin care powders, tilting her head as she tried to distinguish them.
Meanwhile, Caesar, who had just had his diaper changed, was still bare-bottomed and sticking his butt out.
"Can't you just put my pants on first, damn it!"
Caesar thought bitterly.
"Forget it, they should all have pretty much the same effect, right?" Yumilia said.
"What do you mean 'pretty much'! If they're 'pretty much' the same, then why even differentiate them!" Caesar shouted in his mind.
Watching Yumilia apply the three different skin care powders to various parts of his body, he now couldn't tell which was for his butt and which was for his face.
After he was tidied up and had a new diaper on, Yumilia kissed him on the cheek, placed him in his cradle, gave him a pacifier, and put that mischievous white rabbit next to him.
"Little Casey, be a good boy, play here by yourself for a while. Mommy needs to do some chores now."
The little elf went off to busy herself.
Little Casey was the nickname she had given Caesar, and although he personally disliked the name, it was no use.
"When I grow up, I'll definitely use amnesia magic to make myself forget this shameful memory," Caesar thought, sucking on his pacifier.
This was his fifteenth day, or perhaps twentieth, after his resurrection; he couldn't keep track anymore. After becoming a baby, time seemed to fly by. He spent every day sleeping, and subjectively, it felt like only two or three days had passed.
Every day was spent eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating, under the care of the elf Yumilia.
Except for being taken to town for identity registration a few days ago, he had learned almost nothing about the outside world.
His racial identity was now registered as an elf.
Based on his observations over the past few days, this elf's social interactions were very simple. This home truly only had her. The only people who came and went daily, besides the neighbor Mrs. Bell, were Uncle Sam from the nearby ranch, who delivered fresh ingredients every day.
He remembered elves being vegetarians, but Caesar saw eggs and a little fish in Yumilia's meals.
He guessed it was a change in living habits from long-term exposure to human society.
Ding-a-ling.
A bicycle bell rang at the door, followed by a shout:
"Yumilia! Your newspaper for this month has been delivered!"
"Okay! Thank you, Uncle Gru!"
Yumilia shouted back through the window as she ran out. A moment later, she returned with a stack of newspapers.
"Newspapers?"
Caesar immediately perked up.
If he wanted to understand outside intelligence, wasn't the newspaper the best channel?
He immediately started babbling and crying.
"Eh? What's wrong, Little Casey?"
Yumilia put down the newspapers and ran over, picking him up and comforting him.
But Caesar's hands were waving towards the stack of newspapers.
"You want this? Haha, you can't read it, you know." Yumilia laughed, but still brought the stack of newspapers to him, pulled out one, placed it in his cradle, and let him lie on his stomach on the bed.
"Take your time reading, my little doctor."
She said and then left, probably thinking that Caesar was just interested in the pictures on it.
Caesar lay on the newspaper, looking at the information on it.
The postman mentioned this month's newspaper, so this elf probably subscribed monthly, meaning the newspapers had a month's delay.
But for him, it didn't matter; as long as he could read it, it was fine.
But...
"Why can't I understand any of the words?" He looked distressed.
After the empire was unified, he designated the simplest and easiest-to-remember iro as the official language. Although the text on the newspaper was also iro, and he recognized every character, he didn't know what they meant when put together.
It was like classical Chinese had been translated into vernacular Chinese.
He guessed there had been significant changes in grammar and meaning.
Although the accent had changed, he could still understand people speaking, but he could only barely make out the general meaning of written words.
The only thing he could clearly understand on it was a date in the upper left corner.
"March 7, 617 AD."
The Anno Domini calendar system was one he had implemented after establishing the empire, following the conventions of his previous life.
The year he entered the Returning Source Cocoon was 18 AD.
"...."
"Six hundred years..."
Because he had already mentally prepared himself, he was able to accept this reality.
He then squinted, staring at the bold headline beneath a large photo that occupied the entire page, and began to read.
Combined with the photo, this news seemed to be a report of an important official announcing something significant.
But he just couldn't understand the details at all.
Caesar was annoyed, but then he suddenly thought, 'Aha! If I put it in my mouth, won't I understand it?'
Then he grabbed the newspaper and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Little Casey!"
Yumilia turned around, saw this, and quickly ran over, pulling the newspaper out of his mouth.
"Mind your own business about the Emperor, woman!" Caesar wailed, his hands still trying to grab the newspaper.
Yumilia picked him up, looking distressed.
"I completely forgot what Mrs. Bell said, that babies like to bite things. I need to be careful from now on to prevent Little Casey from accidentally eating things."
But seeing Caesar's intense interest in the newspaper, she didn't want to just take it away.
"Then how about I read it to you?" Yumilia said with a smile.
She placed Caesar on her lap, holding him with one hand and spreading out the newspaper with the other.
"Hmm... Let me see, are there any stories suitable for children? The joke section is on...."
She was still searching when she noticed Caesar was very interested in the content of that large section from earlier. He was babbling excitedly, his chubby little hands constantly reaching for it.
"Do you want to see this?"
Yumilia pointed to the content on the large section and began to read.
"Talk show host Robinson stated that he is not a sweet cucumber person; his last time eating sweet cucumbers was purely for performance, and he is actually a steadfast sour cucumber person."
"What the hell is all this nonsense...."