The following days passed peacefully.
In the third month, under the careful nurturing of the Elf, Caesar grew rapidly. He could now crawl and sit, often asking Yumilia to read him newspapers to understand outside intelligence. He himself also learned to comprehend the content based on what she read. His brain after resurrection was quite capable; he could now understand most of a newspaper's content on his own.
However, an infant's desire for sleep was still too strong. He was only awake for two or three hours a day, sometimes falling asleep on the newspaper while reading.
Actually, if the parents of an ordinary person saw their three-month-old infant seriously reading a newspaper, they would certainly be shocked.
But this Elf's brain circuits were somewhat abnormal. Seeing an infant looking at a newspaper, her first thought was that it would affect his eyesight, and she even held him further away before letting him look.
However, after this period, her parenting experience had improved quite a bit, and she was more adept at taking care of him. At least, there wouldn't be situations like him being scalded by inappropriate water temperature anymore.
Every day, she fed him, changed his diapers, bathed him, massaged his body, and rocked his cradle to lull him to sleep.
The small-statured Elf now truly had the appearance of a mother.
Although from Caesar's perspective, it still felt a bit like playing house.
From the intelligence gathered from newspapers during this time, the country he was currently in was indeed called the Fien Kingdom, which was powerful. He also learned about another very strong country called Surna.
Judging from the tone of the newspapers, there seemed to be some disharmony between the two.
Additionally, he learned about a country called the Usrul Grand Duchy, which was actually founded by Beastmen.
These big, dumb brutes, whose brains were full of muscles, had actually established their own independent nation.
One must know that unifying the Beastmen tribes was the most troublesome task back then. They had at least a thousand tribes, each with its own language and writing. Moreover, these boors truly had no sense of reason; their cultural level was, on average, prenatal education graduates, and someone who could count within ten could become a military strategist.
Trying to civilize them was truly comparable to ascending to godhood.
Now they had even established an independent nation. Caesar was curious about what their schools were like.
Besides that, he only received some scattered information. There was no intelligence about the Eldaria Empire.
His Empire, like every dynasty of the past, had become a part of history.
Now, he really wanted a history book. As the pioneer who created a unified empire, he was very curious about how history judged him.
Unfortunately, this Elf wasn't very interested in history; there wasn't a single related book in her home. Nowadays, her daily joy was teaching him to speak.
“Mama—Ma—ma.”
The little Elf was holding Caesar on her lap, earnestly repeating a word over and over in front of him.
“Mama, I—” She pointed to herself with one hand, her expression serious as she continued to repeat:
“Mama, it's Mama.”
Caesar: “¬ _ ¬”
Seeing that Caesar had no reaction, Yumilia's face showed a troubled expression.
“It’s been so long, why can’t he speak yet?”
She picked up a rattling shaker and shook it in front of Caesar, but he showed no interest.
She put down the shaker, then covered her face with both hands, and after opening her palms, made a funny face at Caesar.
“Wah-lah-lah!”
Caesar: “￣ ー ￣ *”
“Still no good,” Yumilia pouted in disappointment, “Everyone else’s little babies love to laugh, why is it only Caesar who doesn’t like to laugh?”
Since Caesar hatched from the egg, Yumilia had never seen him laugh; he always had a dry, small face.
Yet, when she visited other homes with children, their little infants, even those over a year old, would still fall for her tricks, giggling incessantly after she made a funny face.
Only Caesar always maintained a serious face, like a living statue, having already outgrown such low-level amusement at such a young age.
“Hmph, childish and meaningless behavior,” Caesar thought as he looked at the little Elf who was trying her best to make him laugh.
Yumilia thought for a moment, then extended two fingers, pressing them on both sides of Caesar’s mouth, pulling them upwards.
Caesar waved his little hands, “Wah-lah-wah-lah,” swatting her hands away.
Seeing that Caesar didn't react no matter how she tried to amuse him, Yumilia had no choice but to give up. She picked him up and placed him on the sofa, preparing to do housework.
However, after she stood up, she suddenly turned around again, grabbed both sides of Caesar's belly with both hands, and tickled him.
A three-month-old infant already had nerve reactions. Caesar immediately tilted his head back and started giggling.
“He’s laughing, he’s laughing, Little Casey is laughing too!” Yumilia said happily.
“Aren’t you bored!” Caesar dodged her hands, crawled away, and thought angrily.
Seeing Caesar's smiling face, Yumilia was satisfied and smiled as she got up to busy herself.
“He’s growing too slowly. When will I be able to escape this house…” Caesar thought.
Logically, he was resurrected by a holy artifact, which was equivalent to living a second life. Shouldn't his growth rate be faster than average? But now, why did he feel no different from an ordinary child, or even a bit slower?
Since there was no precedent for this, he wasn't quite sure.
In any case, he would still be under the thumb of this Elf for a few more years.
“The Emperor’s Suffering…”
He sighed, looking up.
The door was knocked.
“Coming!”
Yumilia ran to open the door. At the doorway was her neighbor, Mrs. Bell.
“Yumilia, Mr. Gross is here again. He’s at the village entrance right now. If you need anything, you’d best go quickly,” Mrs. Bell told her.
Mr. Gross was a traveling merchant who appeared irregularly, carrying a cart full of goods, bringing rare items not even found in the city.
“Thank you for reminding me, Mrs. Bell, I’ll go in a little while,” Yumilia said politely.
After tidying up, she wiped the water off her hands on her apron.
Caesar then started making noises, “Wah-lee-wah-lee,” extending his hands, looking like he wanted to be picked up.
“Not now, Caesar, Mama needs to go out now. I’ll play with you when I come back,” Yumilia went over and rubbed his head.
But Caesar stubbornly stretched out his little hand, pointing at the door.
“Do you want to go out too?” Yumilia guessed.
“Yes, it’s not good for a little baby to always stay at home. He needs to go out for a walk,” the little Elf nodded.
So she picked up Caesar, pushed open the door, and walked out.
Caesar had been waiting for this opportunity. About two months ago, Mr. Gross had visited once, but Caesar hadn’t paid attention then. Later, he heard from other villagers that Mr. Gross also sold books.
Now, he wanted to get a history book, which would require going to the town three kilometers away. Since he couldn't speak yet, he couldn't express his desire to go to town to buy a book to Yumilia. Therefore, Mr. Gross was his only chance to obtain a history book and learn about the past.