Chapter149

The man's hand paused as he lightly touched Elara's lower back. Hmm? No reaction? Did she already absorb the Phoenix Seal?

He tapped her back again, but still nothing happened.

The man raised an eyebrow and looked at the girl's peaceful sleeping face.

It had only been a month or two since she got the Phoenix Seal, and she already absorbed it?

If that was true, then this would be a bit tricky.

He stared at her quietly, lips still slightly curved.

But before he could decide whether to give up on the mission, that familiar wave of sleepiness swept over him again.

His awake time was up, but he'd probably wake again soon.

Forget it, this woman was pretty interesting. He might as well stay with her a few more days.

He slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep, his face returning to the form of a child. His small body instinctively snuggled closer to Elara's arms, curling up completely in her embrace, then relaxing into deeper sleep.

The next morning,

Elara woke up with a small child snuggled tightly in her arms.

She looked down at the still-sleeping boy. When she tried to pull her arm away from his waist, he moved in response. Even in sleep, he stayed closely attached to her, like he didn't want to let go at all.

Elara paused and glanced at the sky outside, which was beginning to brighten. She simply shook the child awake. As he looked up, still drowsy and confused, she told him without mercy,

"I'm getting up now. You can stay and sleep or get up and wash up for breakfast with me."

The child, who had his sleep rudely interrupted, blinked in surprise but didn't get upset. He immediately sat up and followed Elara to wash and eat.

Elara saw this and smiled slightly.

It wasn't a bad thing for a child to be a little mature. At least he didn't throw a tantrum at a time like this.

After getting dressed, she noticed he was still struggling with his buttons, so she walked over to help him.

The child looked up at her, obediently raising his arms so she could dress him. His face lit up with a smile. "Big sister, you're so kind."

Elara chuckled and replied, but then the voice of System 92 suddenly sounded in her mind.

[Master, I... I feel like there's something I want to tell you...]

[What is it? Go ahead.]

[But I... I think I forgot... no, wait, I'm the system. How could I forget something? But I just feel like there was something I wanted to tell you... and now I don't know what it was...]

As a data-based entity, System 92 was supposed to record everything. It shouldn't experience memory loss.

Elara thought for a moment. [When did you get this feeling?]

[This morning... I think?]

That's not very certain. [Did it happen last night while I was asleep?]

[No, definitely not then.] The system's voice turned firm for the first time.

So the memory gap only appeared after she fell asleep last night.

Did something happen while she was sleeping?

But she slept very well last night. Nothing felt out of place. The only unusual thing was that she'd slept with the child in her arms.

Thinking of this, Elara looked at the child still holding his arms up while she helped him dress.

Did this child do something last night?

But if he had done anything, Uno and the guards would've already acted.

Besides, System 92 operated somewhat outside the rules of this world.

Could this child really have some kind of power that even affected the system?

With this in mind, Elara calmly glanced at the child.

It seemed unlikely, but she did have a system, and the child's past was very strange. Maybe he really did have something unusual about him.

While continuing to help him dress, Elara told the system, [Check the child. See if there's anything on him that might affect you.]

System 92 replied in a discouraged tone, [I already checked, Master. There's nothing wrong with him.] It had scanned everything the moment it sensed something was off.

But no abnormalities were found.

That was what upset it most. It suspected it might already be starting to malfunction or degrade.

Thinking this, the system couldn't help but start crying.

[Waaah, Master, am I already losing data from age and wear? Waaah, but I haven't even been out for ten years yet. I don't want to be sent back to the factory and taken apart. Waaah, Master, I think I'm getting old. Waaah, I don't want to be reset or disassembled...]

Elara's temple twitched as two dark lines appeared on her forehead. But hearing how sad the system sounded, she thought for a moment and then tried to comfort it.

[It's fine. Early-onset system dementia still has a chance to be cured.]

The system's crying stopped briefly, then grew even louder.

Elara: ...her fault for speaking carelessly.

She added sincerely, [Then why don't you start keeping a notebook and write everything down? A dull pen is better than a good memory.]

System 92 was sobbing so hard it started hiccuping. [Waaah, Master, stop talking please!]

Over the next three days, Elara followed her plans and prepared for the campaign. Haochen also stayed by her side every day as usual.

Since she was supposed to take care of this child for three years, and nine was the right age to start early education, she used some of her spare time to teach him the basics.

"Come on, repeat after me: 'At the beginning of man, nature is kind…'"

The child was very smart. He usually understood things after hearing them just once. After learning the meaning, he asked her,

"Big sister, does that mean people are born kind?" His pretty eyes held a faint, mocking expression.

Growing up in his kind of environment, he had already seen the worst in people, even more than many adults. So Elara wasn't surprised by his skeptical look.

Still, she couldn't just say people were born evil either.

She held him and gently patted his head, thinking before she said, "Not exactly. A better way to put it is that people have two sides. What kind of person they grow into isn't decided just by how they were born. The environment and education matter a lot too. A good home and proper guidance are what parents should work hard to provide."

"When a child is born, they don't really know good from evil. That's why someone needs to teach them, raise them. If parents, as the first guardians, don't do their job right, and the child grows up twisted or bad, then it's not all the child's fault. At least half the blame lies with the parents. That's why people say, 'If a child isn't taught, it's the parent's fault.'"

After she finished, she noticed the mocking look in the boy's eyes was gone. What was left was seriousness and focus.

He stared at her for a long time, and she wasn't sure if he was still trying to understand the two things she had just said.

When Elara was about to teach him the next line, she heard him ask, "Sister, what about a child who's already turned bad? What should we do?"

Elara looked at his face again. "Then change. Come, repeat after me. This is the next line I'm teaching you: 'If you know you've done wrong and fix it, that's the best thing you can do.' It means that if someone makes a mistake but is willing to admit it and change, then that is already the best outcome."

The child pressed his lips together and looked at her, asking again, "But after changing, will they always be forgiven?"

Elara smiled. "The line I just taught you actually has a part before it. It says: 'No one is perfect, who can live without mistakes?' It means people all make mistakes, that's normal. As long as the mistake isn't something that can never be undone, and you're willing to change, then it's already something very good."

Not something that can never be undone... The child's hand that was holding the edge of her clothing tightened a little without him noticing. His eyes stayed fixed on her, carefully listening as she continued to speak.

"There was once a great person who also said something. He said, 'Born as a person, you should improve yourself, help others, and be like water, staying kind even in terrible surroundings. Then, you have nothing to regret.'"

"It means that as a person, you should focus on your character, help others and yourself, and be like water. Even in bad environments, you should stay kind. If you can do that, then you're already someone very admirable."

"Some others interpret that line differently. They say it means: since we're born as people, we will suffer and face many hardships, but if we can keep going even in a harsh environment, that itself is already a big success."

The afternoon sunlight spilled across the girl, wrapping her in a warm glow. Her gentle voice made her seem even softer and more comforting.

Haochen looked at the girl who was patiently explaining these words to him, and that phrase kept echoing in his heart... 'If you know you've done wrong and fix it, that's the best thing you can do.'

He wasn't Haochen, though he didn't know why he was so sure. He didn't understand why he was in this situation either, but he knew one thing. Everything around him was a disguise, a role he was playing.

He had only taken the place of the real Haochen. That was the only reason he had everything he did now.

And Elara, she treated him so gently only because she believed he was Haochen...

But as he looked at her now, patiently explaining things to him and even gently touching his head from time to time, a feeling quietly rose in his heart. He suddenly really wanted her to know who he truly was.

His name was not Haochen... His name was...

Come to think of it, she didn't really know his past. But she had said, if someone knows they've done wrong and changes, then that is something very good.

So, if she found out... would she still treat him with kindness?

Over the past three days, Elara tried to spare time to teach Haochen whenever she could. When Kristof came to report that the address for the Youth Academy had been chosen and that the Construction Department had already started gathering people, Elara looked at the book she was writing for Haochen. She thought for a moment, then decided to have Kristof call Scholar Fu and the other civil officials to the governor's office for a meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was to begin compiling the first educational materials for this world.

In Elara's original plan, this wasn't supposed to happen until she returned to Plumera and took back control of the country. Only then would she establish the Ministry of Education and start applying the plan nationwide.

But since the Youth Academy had already been built and so many children in Plumera were displaced, Elara decided to start the project a little earlier.

At the very least, she wanted to get the basic learning materials written so someone could start teaching the children. Otherwise, wasting these precious years for learning would be a mistake.

Since they were making teaching materials, Elara discussed it directly with the group. They decided to divide it into four main subjects: literature, math, crafts, and physical skills.

"Literature" was, of course, language and reading. Though this world was still ancient, there were beginner-level books already. Elara planned to revise those and use them.

"Math" was the foundation of all technical knowledge. In this ancient world, math wasn't even a subject. Just being able to calculate was considered a skill, enough to get hired by a wealthy family to manage their accounts.

But for Elara, math needed to be equal in importance to literature. It would be a basic subject. She required that all children graduating from the Youth Academy know basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. She even printed the full multiplication chart.

Next was "crafts," which covered different types of practical skills. Kids would be able to learn a trade that interested them at the Youth Academy.

The last subject was "physical skills," related to body movement and protection.

Elara planned to let General Qi come up with a simple set of martial arts moves that children could learn. He would also teach them how to handle dangerous situations.

In such a chaotic world, learning this would be a basic survival skill. If they ever faced danger again, they wouldn't be completely helpless.

With the Youth Academy and beginner-level books planned out, Elara looked at the days left before war would begin. The next morning, she prepared to leave the city for the border to test one of her new plans.

Since the test site was near the border of Celosia and she might even sneak into Celosia itself, she didn't take the child along.

But when she left, the child still followed her all the way to the city gate, saying he just wanted to walk her that far.

Once she passed the gate and saw the child finally turn back, Elara turned her eyes away and prepared to speed up.

Then she noticed Oswyn was still staring in the direction the child had been standing, frowning deeply.

"What is it?"

Oswyn pulled his gaze back, but his eyes were still filled with doubt.

"That child is strange."

Elara's hand on the reins paused. If this were only something System 92 had detected, she might have assumed it was a rare accident. But even Oswyn said this...

Elara patted Uno on the hand, signaling him to drive closer to Oswyn.

"What's strange about him?"

"Everything is strange." Oswyn lowered his eyes in thought. He looked like he hadn't faced such a tough question in a while, and couldn't figure it out right away.

"In short, if he were just a child with a parasite, his pulse wouldn't feel like that. But he..." Oswyn went silent for a while, then rubbed his head with frustration, like he couldn't find the right words to explain.

"Anyway, that kid definitely has something wrong. You need to be careful. Don't assume he's harmless just because he's a child."

After saying that, Oswyn turned his horse and started organizing the herbs they needed for the experiment as he rode forward.

Behind him, Elara slowly withdrew her gaze from his back and looked again at the spot on the city wall where the child had stood.

A few seconds later, she turned to Uno.

"Leave a few guards behind. Keep an eye on his movements, but don't let him notice. Watch for anything unusual."

"And also, tell General Qi to guard the city well. No accidents are allowed until I return."

"Yes."