Before I start this chapter, the "birthday" in the title has three different things it is referring to...
1) Echidna's birthday (January 24/today if you're reading it the day it was published).
2) This story's two-year anniversary!
3) Idk if I really should put it here, but who cares! It's also my birthday! It's a really crazy coincidence that I share this occasion with Echidna, but it works out pretty well, if I do say so myself.
Now, there will be two parts to this chapter: A Q&A with Echidna, and then a trailer that I made for this story! (As it turns out, I can't post links in here, so if you'd like to see the trailer, I'll have the YouTube link on my profile!) I hope you enjoy!
A Q&A with Echidna, Part 2
Q: Not again... So, Echidna, just like we did last year, I have a few questions for you to answer. You don't mind answering them, do you?
A: Of course not! I am the Witch of Greed! My entire existence is devoted to satisfying both my Greed and the Greed of others! Every question, without exception, will receive an answer that is satisfactory! In fact, I will make sure to go into full detail my answers and the reasons I have chosen each response!
Q: That's... wonderful... Now, to get started since I'm being paid for this, what is your favorite or least favorite memory with the other Witches?
A: ...
Q: Echidna? You good?
A: I will ignore the fact that you are attempting to rush my response to such a sensitive question, but I suppose that you were not aware of my past circumstances, which is why you would have been confused about my hesitation to answer, so I will pardon your ignorance. Now, as answering the latter is much easier, I will explain it first. I am sure that you are not surprised by this, but my least favorite memory would be of the Great Calamity, when she destroyed half of the world. The scale of her destruction is very difficult for someone such as you to comprehend, but imagine if your world initiated nuclear warfare. This is not a precise comparison, but the destruction would be very similar. She left nothing behind, and it is no exaggeration to state that the world was reborn after the destruction left in her wake. Everything that I had worked so hard to achieve was completely useless in the face of that wretched monster. Of course, several of my experiments survived, but all of my work to improve the conditions of the world were murdered along with all of the people who died for nothing. Some may wonder why I hate her, but who would logically forgive the one who betrayed them and the entire world, causing so much death? If you were acquainted with an absolute evil such as Adolf Hitler, would you forgive him if he suddenly felt remorseful for his actions? If he explained that he had an emotionally challenging upbringing, would you forgive him? Would you find it in your heart to accept the excruciating pain of countless lifeforms just because others tell you to do so? No, you would not, and I certainly will never forgive her! Even if I learn what it means to sympathize with others, I will certainly never know what it means to feel anything other than hatred toward the Witch of Envy and whatever other identity she may assume. Now, to leave that topic before I reveal too many secrets, my favorite memory shared with a Witch is with Minerva, whom I admittedly get along with better than the rest of the Witches. You see, this memory occurs before the Great Calamity, when I was still hopeful for the world. This certain memory pertains to our first meeting, and I recall that the day was quite hot. I was taking a walk through an unfamiliar forest, and as I was experiencing unbearable heat, I devised an ingenious plan: I would create an artificial pool where I stood, and therefore have a means of cooling off. I suppose that I forgot to precede casting the water spell with the earth spell to create the pool area, so my immediate area was flooded quite terribly. For myself, it provided no relief, and it was quite the hindrance to don sodden shoes and to sport a damp dress, so I improvised and froze the water instead, creating a cool environment beneath me. While this improved my situation, it seemed to cause distress for another because I was immediately subject to an unladylike screech, that of which I soon discovered to have originated from Minerva. I appeared to have frozen her as she attempted to free a beast from a hunter's trap, and as I understand it, she did not appreciate the coldness of the ice that juxtaposed the heat of the day. For the very first time, I experienced a tantrum from the Witch of Wrath, and we have been good friends ever since.
Q: I have a lot to say about that answer - well, you gave me a few answers, really - but let's move on. Can you tell me about any plans that you might be keeping secret from people?
A: Of course! I cannot imagine that you would be able to inform them about this certain plan, but please listen well, or you may find yourself unable to ascertain my objectives. For you see, the obviously predominant threat that I face is Pandora, the elusive Witch of Vanity, and in order to defeat her, I must use all of my intelligence to form countless plans to counter any actions taken by her. As I witnessed within Em... excuse me, I was trying to say Emi... Em... Emil... *sigh* As I witnessed within Emilia's memories, Pandora is capable of rewriting reality, but I believe that there are weaknesses within her Authority, and I plan to exploit them in order to defeat her and the vile Witch Cult of which she presides over. I have reason to infer that she can only rewrite events that she has directly influenced, so I must be mindful of any occurrence as it might be the work of Vanity. In addition, (Y/N) seems to be exempt from the effects of Authorities, so he is capable of voiding her reality-warping by simply existing. This feature of (Y/N)'s will be pivotal in killing each Archbishop permanently, and I will have to create a situation in which he and Pandora confront each other. Of course, she will be capable of rewriting her location, so (Y/N) will have to cement her battle with him by making contact with her, which would also likely result in her death. However, the issue in of itself is the initiation of contact between the two, and this is where many theories will have to be proven in order for an effective plan to be created. For example, I cannot prove that Pandora's Authority functions as I suspect it does. What if it not only rewrites certain events, but what if it is connected to the memory of the world and disrupts it from there? If this is so, then does (Y/N)'s immunity to Authorities truly apply to Pandora's ability? Is she only pretending to be unable to resurrect the Sin Archbishops of Sloth and Lust? Will she let us believe that they are deceased until Subaru loses their Authorities in a dire moment? Will she use this as a way to construct a situation in which every Archbishop gathers in a certain place and time where all opposition to the Witch Cult can be destroyed? These are questions that must be answered, and in order to defeat Vanity, I must prepare many plans of action for every possibility. I am frustrated to admit that I am still unable to ascertain a certain reason for (Y/N)'s immunity other than the fact that he may have developed it because of his heritage from a separate world, but I am still searching for an answer that explains this phenomenon in a much more satisfactory manner. Until then, and even afterwards, I do not plan on intentionally placing him in situations in which death is almost guaranteed. I do not wish to trample on the wishes of him and Natsuki Subaru, so I will suppress my natural urge to run as many trials as possible. Instead, I will compile available information with each of these theories, and I will calculate the most likely situations and how to react to them without high casualties or failure. I will also archive data for the less likely events, but priority is given to anything over a thousandth of a percent likely to occur. Of course, (Y/N) is informed about the dilemma with Pandora, but now you are the only person to have heard the admittedly difficult challenge that I must overcome.
Q: Uh, that hurts to think about, so I won't even try to wrap my brain over all of that. Now, we didn't get to cover this entire question last year, but what is the most interesting thing that you have learned?
A: Ah, I vividly recall my reaction when you interrupted me as I attempted to answer this same question with my top twenty inventions, and I do not plan to adjust the number of inventions I wish to discuss. However, as (Y/N) has told me before, I will attempt to summarize my explanations in order to prevent another interview ending with this question. This is awfully considerate of me, is it not? Speaking of considerate, the very first term on this concise list is the scientific method, for this is the standardized approach that has allowed your world to advance in any field as it has. Even if you do not count this as an invention, without it, many procedures would have procured inaccurate results, which would have led to countless failures of theories and even inventions that are on this list. The scientific method may seem elementary, but it has served a vital role in your world. Next is the most impressive invention, but only behind the scientific method because of a chronological order of events that suggests that without the scientific method, this would have never been born: the Internet. The Internet connects your entire world in a literal sense, and it gives every person an opportunity to learn and grow like nothing that ever has existed in my world. I am quite glad that I am able to access (Y/N)'s memories at will, but if I had one wish that is not already in the process of being granted, it would be for me to be sent to your world so that I could access the Internet and appeal to my Greed until either the end of time or the day I somehow meet my end, because no library or magical book I possess will ever equate to the amount of information that the Internet holds. Next, I value-
BooksLored: You know, I'm really sorry about this, but I need to cut you off there, Echidna.
A: Excuse me? Who are you, and why are you interrupting this interview? This occasion only occurs once a year, as you might know.
BooksLored: Trust me, I know, and I genuinely would like for you to talk about the rest of your list, but I really have to stop you here unironically because I actually ran out of time to write this.
A: Ah, are you the so-called God of this world? Are you the one who predetermines every action, thought, and consequence that occurs in my world? Are you also controlled by a God of your own? If so, who is the real God, and how-
BooksLored: Yeah... enough of that. The interview is over!
Yeah, just like I wrote up there, I ran out of time to write because, as I am writing this message here, my time zone just turned to January 24th, so I'm going ahead and posting this at midnight so that we can get the maximum celebration time.
Anyway, like I promised, here is a special trailer that I made for this story!
(If you missed it up top or if you forgot after reading Echidna's famous interview rambles, I can't post links here in the chapter, so I'll have the YouTube link on my profile page if you want to watch it!)
I did the best I could with my budget ($0) and other resources, so what do you think about it? And by the way, I also wrote the music that you hear in it!
And I think this wraps up everything that I have for you guys! I hope you enjoyed it, but I can't end this without saying thank you to everyone who's stuck with me for all this time and even to those who have just recently joined us here. Y'all are awesome, and without your support, I would definitely have lost motivation to write, so thank you for helping me push forward and somehow make this story the way it is. I look forward to another year with you, and I hope that I can still continue to grow as a writer so that I can write this story even better than I think I can.
With that, I'll see you soon, since I'm halfway done with the next chapter! I know that it's taking quite a while, but I'm doing my best with the time I have so I can write the best story I can for all of you!