The village entrance was bustling; children ran around everywhere, and flocks of chickens, ducks, and geese honked and quacked.
Under an old tree, a modified horse-drawn carriage cart was parked.
Caesar seemed to hear the neighing of horses, but after getting closer, he realized it was the sound of an engine.
The front of the carriage was a device similar to a tractor, with exposed metal mechanical structures, and a row of exhaust pipes on top, spewing thick smoke.
The pungent smell of evaporating gasoline made Caesar frown, and he raised his small hand to cover his nose.
“Does it smell bad?” Yumilia pulled out a handkerchief and helped him cover his nose.
The faintly scented handkerchief made him feel a little better.
Although choked by the smell of gasoline, this was still the first time Caesar had seen such a pure industrial creation since his revival.
While its style was wild, its mechanical structure exposed, its devices crude, and its noise immense, its core—the internal combustion engine driving its operation—was a monumental achievement of technological civilization.
The fact that a merchant could drive it around for business also proved the maturity of current assembly line production and gasoline refining processes.
Yumilia carried him forward, where a row of large stalls displayed all sorts of goods.
Many villagers gathered around, either observing, carefully selecting, or casually rummaging with a playful attitude.
A young man flipping through a magazine in his hand said, “Gross, why do you always bring in such uninteresting stuff? Can’t you get something exciting, like last time… ‘Stepmother’s Secret’?”
Several young men present burst into knowing laughter.
“You guys! Don’t touch if you’re not buying! If books get dirty, no one will want them!”
A middle-aged man with a big beard, a bald head, a rough face, but wearing a fancy monocle, stood behind the stall and shouted at the young men.
That was Gross, the traveling merchant.
After scolding the young men away, he began to promote his goods to the surrounding villagers.
Yumilia carried Caesar and squeezed to the front of the stall.
Caesar’s gaze also began searching among the goods.
Alarm clocks, lighters, brushes, umbrellas, as well as perfume, canned goods, medicine bottles, cigarette cases…
He even saw a very heavy old-fashioned camera.
After circling around, he saw a pile of old books placed in a corner.
It was a bit far, and he couldn’t make out what type of books they were.
“Let me see what I need?”
Yumilia examined the goods.
“Caesar also needs a small stroller, and baby skincare products and toys…” the little elf murmured softly.
“Hey! Miss Elf, want to try this? Last time I saw you struggling to take care of a baby alone, so I specially brought in this great invention!” Gross’s face immediately brightened into a cheerful smile when he saw Yumilia, and he called out loudly.
He took out a mechanical device; on a structure resembling a fan shaft, a rubber hand was attached.
“Look, this is the latest model of the fully automatic baby care machine.
It can help you take care of your little one, saving you more time,” Gross enthusiastically introduced, not just to Yumilia, but also to several other wives nearby.
“Really?” Yumilia blinked, looking at the mechanical device in Gross’s hand.
“Don’t look so interested! That thing will probably knock my head off!” Caesar protested in his heart.
“Of course! Let me demonstrate for you.” Gross said.
He found a baby doll, then placed the fully automatic baby care machine next to the doll.
“Look, just wind this spring, and it can run for ten to fifteen minutes.”
Gross wound the spring a few times, and then the hand connected to the shaft began to rotate, slapping the baby doll flying away.
Everyone’s gaze followed the doll as it landed in the distance, then they turned their heads to look at Gross.
“Uh… this, I might have wound it a few too many times.
Don’t worry, you just need to control the force,” Gross chuckled awkwardly.
“How about it? Want to buy one?”
“This, thank you for your recommendation, I think… I’ll consider it…” Yumilia forced a smile and hugged Caesar a little tighter.
Failing to make a sale here, Gross then turned to another woman to promote a fully automatic vegetable slicer.
“Are there already so many strange inventions now?” Caesar thought.
Similar situations had occurred in the history of his previous life.
Due to technological development, the upper limit of human imagination was raised, and all sorts of strange inventions and creations sprang up like mushrooms after rain.
Caesar looked at the pile of books in the corner and began to babble, making noises towards them.
“Caesar, do you want that?” Yumilia looked over and saw a yellow-orange rubber duck there.
She walked over, picked up the little duck, squeezed it in front of him, and it made a squeaky sound.
“Isn’t it cute?” she said, smiling with narrowed eyes.
Caesar pushed the little duck away with a pat, and pointed his small hand forcefully at the pile of books.
“Books? Caesar, do you want books?” Yumilia smiled helplessly.
“Those are all words; you can’t understand them.”
But Caesar remained persistent, holding up his small hand.
“Alright, I’ll buy you one, little scholar?” Although Yumilia thought it impossible for Caesar to understand purely textual books, she was still happy and casually picked one up.
Caesar looked at the words on the cover.
“Alice in Iron City”
He pushed that book away again.
“Don’t like this one?” Yumilia had no choice but to put him down and let him choose for himself.
Caesar rummaged through the pile of books, searching for a long time, and actually found a history book with a detached cover.
The title was vaguely discernible:
“Civilization Emerging from Savagery and Darkness”
The book was very thick, and as a baby, he couldn’t pick it up, so he just patted the cover with his small hand.
“Do you want this one?” Yumilia picked it up for him.
She opened it and read a few pages.
“It feels so profound… and it’s all words…”
Closing the book, she smiled slightly, “If Caesar wants it, then let’s buy it.”
She took the book to Gross and paid for it.
“Caesar, you wait here for a moment, Mom still needs to buy some things.”
Yumilia placed Caesar under the old tree, and the history book she bought was also placed beside him.
Caesar eagerly opened the book and first looked at the table of contents.
The first page of the table of contents was the “History of a Thousand Years of War,” which was the history before the establishment of the Kingdom of Aeria.
Soon, he saw the chapter on the Holy Aeria Empire.
He saw the history about him.
The chapters about the Empire, just the table of contents, took up three full pages.
Caesar felt a strange tension at this moment.
Perhaps he was the only emperor who could see later generations’ evaluations of himself, rather than chronicles compiled by his own era, full of praise and adulation.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the first chapter of the Empire’s history.
“The Expedition, Dawn of the Empire”
Just as he was about to read, a honking sound from nearby interrupted him.
He turned his head to look, and it was a large white goose, standing upright, stretching its neck and staring at him.
Caesar looked at the goose, and the goose looked at Caesar.
“Why am I paying attention to a goose?” he muttered, wanting to continue reading.
But the large white goose suddenly let out a loud honk, spread its wings, stretched its neck forward, and lunged to bite him.
“Beast! What do you want?!” Caesar’s heart tightened, and he quickly twisted and began to crawl away.
But the large white goose pursued relentlessly, honking and chasing him.
“Get away from me! What did I do to you for you to chase me?!”
Caesar cried out, being chased around the tree by the large white goose again and again.
Just as it was about to catch up, Yumilia noticed the predicament and quickly came forward, picking him up, like propping up a collapsing building.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, don’t cry, Mom is here,” Yumilia quickly comforted Caesar, who had been scared by the large white goose.
“This goose is an assassin! Kill it! Kill it!” Caesar, still shaken, pointed at the large white goose and cried out loudly.
At this moment, the owner of the large white goose ran over, grabbed the goose by the neck, and apologizing, led the goose away.