Chapter ???:@$#%^!%^5: Happy birthday to Yuki~!

Author notes: Happy birthday to Yuki~!

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"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you...! Happy birthday, happy birthday! Happy birthday to Yuki!" Sang by a chorus of melodious voices to celebrate a certain Marshal's day of birth. Yuki, influenced by the celebrative mood created by her big family, is almost brought to tears. Even after all this time, Yuki is still surprised by the birthday party they tend to organize behind her back. After all, Yuki never pays any thought to her birthday.

"On this day altogether will be, will all sing for your happy birthday~! One, two, three, we'll blow out the candles~! Happy birthday, happy birthday to you~! Happy birthday, happy birthday to you~!"

"T-Thank you so much, everyone!" Yuki's emotional response earns her a collective hug from everyone present. The youngest of them all, Ningyo, cheers Yuki up by saying. "Big sis, there's no need for courtesy! We, your family, will always be around to remind you of your birthday! And that we all love you to an unimaginable degree! This is the very least we can do for you when you're the one hosting our birthday parties. You see big sis," Ningyo then gestures to everyone. "We're all here for you so you should just kick back and relax on this big holiday we're made for you!"

Having said her piece, Ningyo then pokes her chest out, taking pride in the fact she has shown her maturity to her big sis, for once. Seeing Ningyo like that, Yuki is both touched and grateful that her little sister has gone out of her way to improve her mood. Yuki chuckles, patting Ningyou on her head the way she likes it. "Look at you know, all growing up without me noticing. I dread the moment you spread your wings and I am left behind."

Hearing that, Ningyo pouts while diving for another hug. "No! I will not leave you, big sis! We're family and family never separate!"

Smiling gently at her words, Yuki continues stroking her head while looking around to see other members of her big family looking at them warmly. If you need a list then starting from the very first is Yggdra in her trademark Goddess attire. Next to her are Lu and Hel who are dressing up in a more homeworthy version of their regalias. Bryn is standing next to Lu in a white dress while Elysia is accompanying Hel while dressed in a light pink gown.

Near a large table full of drinks are Mobius and Einstein. Mobius wearing a light green party dress while Einstein is wearing a blue one. Also next to them is one Nicolae, who is waving at Yuki with a small smile and is wearing a purple gown for tonight. Coincidentally, Ningyo is wearing a gray skirt and white shite shirt, being all cute and cuddly right now, much like her big sister, funnily enough.

Interestingly, there's also the presence of a certain slime, being held in the hands of Yggdra. Said slime is blue in color and is wearing a party hat for whatever reason. "Hey, it's you again!" Yuki can't help but point a finger at the slime, who just popping up a tentacle to wave back at her slowly in greeting. With their attention grabbed by Yuki's action, the others divert their sight to the slime, a bit surprised that it's here, once again.

"Oh, it's Slime-san!" Ningyo poked her head out from the hug, waving at the slime with a sunny smile. "Hey, Slime-san, you also here for the party?"

The Slime, now designated Slime-san by Ningyo, wobbles up and down in affirmation. By the side, Mobius is a bit weirded out that she can interpret the slime's action perfectly. In fact, everyone can and this is not the first time Slime-san has decided to grace them with their present. More often than not, Slime-san has been brought to their family outing by Yggdra. The slime is made an instant friend by Ningyo due to its cuteness, hence it was christened with the moniker Slime-san by the young girl. Apparently, it's the last of its kind, if Yggdra's words are to be believed.

Holding up Slime-san and placing them at an empty table with a white cloth covering it, Yggdra says with a smile. "Slime-san will be joining us in tonight's celebration. After all, they're the storyteller and didn't we promise them to help answer a few questions to the best of our ability?"

Yuki makes a fist bump, finally remembering her promise to the Slime a few months back. "Oh, right! We did agree to that, didn't we?"

Lu nods. "That's right, now I'm curious as to what the questions are?" The rest nod along, they too will like to know more about this matter.

Yggdra then snaps her fingers, materializing a set of comfy chairs for all of them, and on the seats are papers with unanswered questions. "Make yourselves comfortable, girls. This may take a while to finish, or not, depending on how fast we can read through all of them." Yggdra said with a smile as she too join them, leaving Slime-san on the table with a pen and a notebook already in their 'hands'.

"Let me start with the most obvious question then." Yggdra decided to take the lead, highlighting the question on the others' papers.

-Hello there! Does Yuki's family know about Yggdra's and her past?

Lu whistles, obviously intrigued by the question but she then goes on to answer. "The answer will be yes and no for all of us, if that makes sense? After all, we have the suspicion that Yuki's past is not simple. If you still remember then Aponia said something about Yuki's fate was not a single, previously determined line by someone or something anymore. She is now the master of her own fate, able to carve her own path."

Hel adds. "And as far as we know, there's only one person in the world that could interfere with Yuki's fate."

"Me!" Yggdra raised her hand up with a bright smile.

Shaking her head at the sudden childishness, Hel continues. "Yuki is the one directly chosen by Yggdra as her champion, the one that is to carry out her will. Before that, she is just a girl that was adopted by us because of our karmic ties. While her importance in the eyes of everyone is elevated through the roof, Lu and I have our suspicions. Because of this, I have taken it upon myself to keep track of Yuki in the dark. Asking Aponia to investigate Yuki's fate was only the first step. But you have no idea how much it pained us when Aponia said that Yuki's life was predetermined like a movie slide." Hel sighs ruefully at the end. Yuki can't help but reach out to her. "Mom! Mama!"

Hel pats Yuki's head with a smile. "It's fine, my dear. Everything ended well, did it not? Now where was I? While our hearts ached at the fact that Yuki was a slave to her destiny, we knew at the time that things exist for a reason. And like Yggdra has so helpfully admitted, she was the only one that could lay out a singular path for Yuki. This wasn't done on a whim, however, there must be a larger reason at play. It's why we decided to keep our suspicions to ourselves, biding our time... So imagine our surprise when Yuki decided to flip the table and give us a scare on the battlefield. Imagine our helplessness when she suddenly summoned Yggdra's Einherjar to do her bidding. Imagine our stupor when Yuki singlehandedly united the Reich into a brighter future... The list can go on and on, but I think you all get the idea. It's also at this time that Aponia confirmed that Yuki's fate is now her own with countless branching paths for her to choose from. It's as if the Yuki of now was fully liberated from her shackles through a trial by fire. Understandably, we have our questions for both Yuki and Yggdra."

Lu interjects with soft giggles. "Especially on my part, I was dying to get to the bottom of this matter but ultimately, we decided to rest our case. At the end of the day, Yuki, unburdened or not, is still our precious daughter regardless of the reason for her existence. We won't ask anything, we won't pry into where we shouldn't, Yuki only needs to know that we will always accept her with open arms no matter who or what she is. Someday, when the time is right, Yuki will explain to us the past, of her own volition. Until then, we will continue showering her with our love and care. Isn't that right, Hel, Bryn?" The pair in question nods with warm gazes directed at Yuki, with Hel pulling her into a hug, wiping away a trail of a tear in the process. It's not just them that is showing their trust for Yuki, but the others too.

Feeling that Yuki can't help but choke out. "Mom... Mama... Everyone! I promise that I will tell you everything without withholding a single word! It's just that I am not ready yet, not even close. But when the time comes, I will give you my word that I will always be the lovely daughter of our family!"

All of them nod with Slime-san clapping their 'hands' together, signaling for a five minutes break. Yuki takes this time to sort through her emotion while almost everyone gives Yggdra the stink eyes. The Primordial Goddess though, just calmly whistle. Once the break is over, Yuki takes the lead to word out the question for everyone to hear.

[The medicinal compound is morphophetamine in a polyethyltriphosphate liquid medium dispensed with nitrous oxide]

-Dayum author, how much did you research for this part?

Also question please, will there be a mech-type armor in the series later on?

Both Yuki and Slime-san sport their thousand-yard stares at the questions, much to the amusement of everyone present. After a few seconds, Yuki shakes her head and replies. "Too much... Too many brain cells were sacrificed in order to further the Reich's technological level. Both Einstein and Mobius can attest to that." Yuki pointed a finger at the pair, who nod with difficulty.

Mobius even adds. "You have no idea how many work hours were poured into R&D. Yuki was even worse than me when it comes to losing her sleep and meals, just so that she could get the job done at the best of speed. And because of her, we were constantly put into overdrive! If not for Bryn's being on constant reminder duty, Yuki would have run the Mansion of Knowledge dry!"

"Hey! It's not my fault I tend to lose track of time, ok!?" Yuki protested but all she got from that was exasperated nods. Einstein decides to offer her a lifeline, however. "Moving on."

-Will there be mech-type armor in the future?

"Well, technically a Raven's armor can be counted as a mechanized armor unit due to it having its own power supply, and offensive, defensive, and motor capability." Einstein answered.

Yuki interjects, a bit too quickly if I may add. "Yes, but I don't think that's the point of that question. They're asking about the equivalent of a manned war golem. A walker fills to the brim with absolute firepower, capable of raining death on the battlefield."

Einstein nods, saying. "I understand. Technically, the Reich can make such mechs right now, however, the cost will be astronomical, much higher than building an Aria, which by itself is already more expensive than making a Raven."

Yuki then smiles, turning to the slime which is already scribbling down the conversation. "There you have it, Slime-san. While we can't make a full-size mech right now, we can in the future. Most probably when our industrial capability already reaches the level where mass-producing mechs can be achieved at a reasonable price. Also, I named my supersoldiers as Ravens for a reason, if you catch my drift." Yuki winked, earning a thumb up from Slime-san.

Elysia decides that now it's her turn to show them another question, seeing as the others are looking at Yuki and Slime-san weirdly. "Next question, gals!"

-Will Yuki get horns at some point? I am pretty sure that Elysia will love it.

"Oh my." Elysia and Yuki both blush at the implication behind the words.

Lu sensually licks her lips at this. "Oh my, indeed! Why, I can just about imagine Elysia, holding Yuki by her horns and ramming her cock into Yuki's mouth."

"Mama/Lu!" Both Yuki and Elysia protest that suggestion. Though they all can see Elysia is eyeing Yuki with a peculiar look and heavy breathing while the latter isn't aware. 'Hook, line, sinker, the whole fishing pole.' They thought in their heads.

"N-Next!" Yuki shouted, forcefully changing the topic. It was not very effective.

-Is there a certain cat girl called Pardofelis in your roster and does the name Fu Hua ring any bell?

Yuki immediately answers. "There's indeed a Pardofelis in our roster. She's actually a member of ONI Section Three, acting under Eden as a logistical officer, and is the one in charge of most, if not, all of Section Three's funding. Pardofelis is praised to be adept at her job but is a bit of a troublemaker due to her cat-like personality as she is a Nekomata. As for this Fu Hua, Section Two has a small file on her, saying that she is a martial prodigy living in a Buddhist temple and that she is an orphan. Other than that, there isn't much else to speak about her."

Bryn nods along, having come across that particular file by coincidence. "There wasn't anything of note, at least. Though her status as a prodigy is interesting to take a look at in the future. With that out of the way, this is a question about Yuki's power."

-What will Yuki do with her current power? Especially when her left eye is looking very similar to the clockwork eye of a certain Spirit.

Yuki smirks, pointing a finger at Slime-san. "That's the neat part, I don't. At least, not anything worthwhile for the time being, I guess? I am horribly weak when you compare me to the girls here. Heck, even Mobius is stronger than me physically and that is saying something."

Mobius doesn't take that jab lying down. "Was that supposed to be a compliment or a diss, Yuki!?" The Marshal just shrugs before patting Ningyo's hair. "But of course, our Ningyo is the strongest girl out there." The little sister grins, nodding repeatedly as if wanting to be praised more. "There, there, Ningyo is the best!"

Yuki, of course, spoils Ningyo with more head pats, receiving warm gazes from everyone in the process. After a short while, Nicolae then says the last question of the day with an expression as if holding back her laughter.

"S-Say, this sure is a good question, no?"

-Between Slime-san and a Takodachi, who will win in a 1v1.

Everybody's expression turns strange at that, even Slime-san's. Nicolae then chuckles, bringing out a Takodachi from who-knows-where. "Well, care to find out?"

She then throws the Takodachi onto Slime-san's table before both sides proceed to have a staring contest.

'Slime-san...!' Said the Takodachi.

'Takodachi...!' Slime-san grumbled as the Takodachi coolly approached them. 'Hoh... You're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're approaching me?'

Takodachi replies. 'I can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer!'

'Hoho! Then come as close as you'd like!' And then both sides start a brawl, much to the amusement of everyone else.

Yggdra though, while trying to stem down her laughter, struggles to say. "D-Do support our Slime-san, won't you!? They deserve that much! Haha~!" Said Yggdra before a mug missed her hair by a breadth due to the brawl.

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