"Where are we going?"
A Cursed Child asked nervously, looking up at Nursery Rhyme—this magical girl who willingly shared sweet candies with her, who gently told her fairy tales, who gifted her soft, brand-new dresses, who was willing to become her friend without hesitation… who poured onto her, someone abandoned by the world, kindness so crystal-clear and unconditional that it felt like a miracle.
"We're going to our very own paradise," Nursery Rhyme replied softly, her face blossoming into an innocent, radiant smile—a smile pure enough to scatter all gloom. Each of her words seemed coated with honeyed promises. "It's a fairy-tale kingdom that rejects all adult malice, a place that exists just for us children. I'm taking all of you there, to find and grasp that glittering happiness that was supposed to belong to you all along."
Words like these would seem impossibly fanciful, nearly unbelievable to ordinary people.
Yet for these Cursed Children, who had struggled since birth against the world's cold hostility and rejection, precisely because they had tasted the stickiest darkness of humanity, they could clearly distinguish—and therefore cherish—the crystalline purity of Nursery Rhyme's kindness.
One after another, the Cursed Children followed Nursery Rhyme to the seaside, where they saw many other children like themselves, and also more Nursery Rhymes who looked exactly alike.
"Our paradise… is it in the sea?" someone asked curiously.
Nursery Rhyme smiled and gently shook her head. "No, our paradise is on another land across the sea."
"Then, how will we get there?" asked a curious child, still innocent at heart. "Could it be that Nursery Rhyme will make wings grow out of our backs so we can fly across?"
"Flying across the ocean would be exhausting, right?" Nursery Rhyme shook her head again.
Immediately after, under the guidance of the Nursery Rhymes, the Cursed Children saw a small wooden raft quietly docked by the shore—barely large enough for three adults to stand on.
A raft like that clearly couldn't carry so many people across the ocean. Even a slightly larger wave would probably overturn it.
Seeing everyone's confusion, Nursery Rhyme simply smiled and explained, "It's fine. I can ask my friend to modify it a bit."
Then, the Cursed Children once again witnessed Nursery Rhyme's amazing friend.
He was a grey wolf standing upright on two legs, wearing a patched orange-yellow hat on his head, with a scar on his right cheek, and a yellow scarf tied around his neck.
After hearing Nursery Rhyme's request, he didn't hesitate for even a second, grabbing a wrench and screwdriver before leaping onto the raft.
Tools flashed, sawdust flew, and within just five seconds, that frail wooden raft—which looked like it would fall apart at a single wave—had turned into a sturdy, sleekly lined wooden boat!
With his back to the astonished and admiring gazes, he still seemed somewhat dissatisfied. From somewhere unknown, he took out a buzzing electric drill and once again jumped onto the boat.
Another five seconds of rapid-fire remodeling! Under the dumbfounded stares of the children, the wooden boat magically morphed, swiftly expanding—metal armor plated its hull, the mast turned into a radar, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a majestic steel cruise ship!
Yet, this inventor who pursued absolute perfection still frowned. After carefully examining the cruise ship, he picked up his tools and started one last round of modifications.
When the final hammer strike fell, what appeared before the children was now an immense, mountain-like vessel with a vast deck and towering island—an aircraft carrier!
"All right, kids! Come aboard! Uncle here will show you the sights of the sea!"
The grey wolf inventor, having finished the transformation, somehow produced a pair of stylish sunglasses from nowhere and put them on, coolly returning to the front of the crowd. He turned and snapped his fingers—and immediately, as if brought to life, the enormous ship responded: the side of the hull automatically lowered a wide staircase without any human operation, and thick, heavy doors slowly opened as if silently inviting them aboard.
How could these children have ever witnessed such a breathtaking scene? As soon as they boarded this floating castle, it was as if unlimited energy had been poured into them. They forgot entirely what fatigue felt like, excitedly running about exploring every corner.
Chattering endlessly, they wove through the spacious decks and corridors, curiously touching all sorts of facilities, even eagerly running off to choose their own rooms, as though embarking on a grand adventure.
Usually, operating an aircraft carrier would require numerous skilled personnel cooperating closely. Yet, this great inventor handed over all the tedious work to a highly advanced AI system—even the sleek, high-tech fighter jets lined up on the deck were pilotless autonomous drones.
Thus, the great inventor sitting comfortably in the command room merely sipped his drink leisurely, occasionally glancing at the smoothly scrolling data streams on the screens, supervising the AI's operations—a truly relaxing situation.
"Mr. Wolffy," Nursery Rhyme sprawled over the back of the command seat, stretching her arms out as wide as possible to draw a huge circle, emphasizing the scale, "You've built such a biiig ship... won't it get discovered by other countries?"
Hearing this, Wolffy leisurely sipped his drink again, lips curling into a self-assured smile that was even a bit arrogant.
"Relax! Those fools who can't even manage to land on the moon think they could detect my great ship? Simply idiotic! Even if I sailed this ship openly right under their noses, they'd still see absolutely nothing!"
For humans, the oceans of this world were far more perilous than the land. Nobody knew exactly how many terrifying and powerful Gastrea lay dormant in those unexplored, shadowy depths. Once attacked, the fate of anyone onboard would be almost certain death.
Only vessels built from Varanium could generate a unique magnetic field that instinctively repelled Gastrea, allowing a relatively safe voyage. Yet Varanium, a critical strategic material essential for maintaining humanity's last defensive lines, was so rare and strategically valuable that mass-producing such ships was impossible—only a few powerful nations or regions of origin could build them at all.
And even with Varanium vessels, no one dared rashly venture into unexplored waters. Most voyages strictly adhered to predetermined safe routes to minimize risks.
Yet Nursery Rhyme and the others had chosen precisely those unknown, death-filled waters humans actively avoided. Thus, the chance of encountering another ship was essentially zero. Being attacked by Gastrea? What a joke—did Nursery Rhyme look like someone who would be afraid?
Satellite surveillance was the least of their concerns; almost every satellite had been destroyed a decade earlier by the ultra-long-range attacks of Sagittarius during the war.
Indeed, nothing happened along the way. All dangers were effortlessly neutralized by the carrier's weaponry and Nursery Rhyme's abilities. The Cursed Children aboard never even sensed any threat; to them, it felt like a pleasant spring outing. They had a wonderful time aboard the carrier these past few days.
There was no need to worry about food either. This time Nursery Rhyme didn't use Gastrea corpses to make Krabby Patties, but instead took out a magical gourmet tablecloth. Whenever the children desired any delicious food, they simply had to say it aloud, and the tablecloth would instantly produce real, piping-hot meals—completely free of charge.
They would often sit around this tablecloth, happily hosting tea parties filled with laughter and smiles, exclusive only to themselves.
As for the exterminated Gastrea, their bodies were collected entirely by Wolffy and converted into fuel to power the gigantic ship. After all, to sustain the normal operation of an aircraft carrier of this scale, the energy consumption was astronomical.
Don't ask how Wolffy turned Gastrea into fuel. For this great inventor who could hand-build an aircraft carrier, converting Gastrea into fuel was likely just another minor invention not even worth mentioning. His technical prowess had long surpassed any limits! Even Tony Stark, who built the first-generation Iron Man suit in a cave using scraps, could not hope to compare.
Crossing through the unexplored seas, the Wolf King finally arrived in Japan from Russia.
"Everyone, follow closely behind me, and absolutely don't wander off, okay?"
Now there was only one Nursery Rhyme left, walking at the front of the group, waving a bright red little flag in her hand, leading a group of Cursed Children through rugged and difficult mountain paths. Those numerous "Nursery Rhymes" had already vanished without a trace—since the moment they boarded the ship, they had silently merged, returning to a single individual.
"If you accidentally get separated, getting lost ordinarily wouldn't be too bad—you can ask the friends in the forest for help, and they'll lead you out. But if you lose your own name in the process, that's extremely dangerous."
The Cursed Children couldn't fully grasp Nursery Rhyme's exact meaning of "losing your name," much less why it would be dangerous. However, there was one thing they heard clearly and engraved firmly in their hearts: absolutely, absolutely never get separated.
When Nursery Rhyme had saved Mizutani Natsuki, she seriously considered how to protect these poor children from humanity's malice.
Later, she found an uninhabited area near the Tokyo Area and specially established a sanctuary for Cursed Children—which was precisely the "paradise" she had promised these children.
Surrounding the paradise, Nursery Rhyme created the "Nameless Forest." Everything in this forest had no name, and those who entered would gradually forget their own names and memories, weakening their sense of self, until even their very existence was erased.
"Well, it's got no name at all! No wonder the wood's nameless. Then it really has happened, after all! And now, who am I? I will remember, if I can! I'm determined to do it!" —Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There
At the same time, Nursery Rhyme placed many Jabberwocks and playing-card soldiers in the forest to prevent accidental intrusions.
With two Holy Grails within her, and sensing no presence of any world consciousness in this world, Nursery Rhyme could maintain the existence of this "paradise" indefinitely, even continuously expanding its area.
The price was that her main body could not take even half a step outside the "paradise." Those who went to other regions to gather Cursed Children were merely her sent-out copies.
"Matsuzaki-chōrō! I'm back!"
"Ah, little Nursery Rhyme has returned... you've truly worked hard again, bringing back so many children. Where are they from?"
"They're from Russia—the home of Father Frost and the Frog Princess. But Nursery Rhyme didn't get to meet the wish-granting pike fish... I really wanted to be friends with it, too."
"Hahaha! Little Nursery Rhyme already has plenty of magical friends. Just when I think I've gotten used to it, the new friends you introduce still manage to surprise me."
Matsuzaki, a middle-aged man with grey hair and glasses, emitted a strongly gentle aura whenever he smiled.
In this world full of malice toward the Cursed Children, this man before them was an utter anomaly. He had always lived quietly in the dangerous and decrepit Outer Area of Tokyo, silently caring for these children whom society had abandoned and regarded as monsters.
"Chōrō" was the affectionate nickname the Outer Area children had given Matsuzaki.
After establishing the paradise, the first thing Nursery Rhyme had done was to bring all the Cursed Children from Tokyo's Outer Area here. Having watched the anime, she clearly remembered that someone would later detonate explosives mixed with Varanium in the Outer Area, resulting in the death of all these children—that tragedy had always remained one of her deepest regrets.
She brought Matsuzaki to the paradise as well; after all, the number of Cursed Children was not small, and it was impossible for her alone to adequately care for all of them. Her summoned friends could only exist temporarily, offering limited help.
After leaving the children brought from Russia in Matsuzaki's care, Nursery Rhyme entered a mysterious underground laboratory alone.
The automatic doors silently slid open after recognizing Nursery Rhyme's identity. She hopped and skipped into the laboratory like an excited little bird, round eyes glancing curiously everywhere. Her clear, crisp voice echoed throughout the lab:
"Village Chief! Village Chief! Has there been any progress with your experiments?"
However, within the spacious lab, Nursery Rhyme did not see even half a human shadow. She only spotted a cluster of still-growing clover in the corner of the laboratory.
Blinking her slightly sakura-pink eyes in curiosity, Nursery Rhyme leaned closer to that clover. She heard an extremely faint murmuring voice coming softly from among the leaves, as though someone was muttering to themselves:
"This doesn't make sense... What principle is this based on...? Science no longer exists..."
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T/N: Wolffy hes from uhh pleasant goat and big bad wolf