Chapter 1-1: I Have Parents Now

The Main Story Begins

The sensation of a gentle breeze brushing across his body gradually brought him back to consciousness.

…Ah, I’m awake… The wind carries the scent of grass and trees mixed with the rich smell of earth. Am I in a forest…?

Whenever the wind blew, he could hear leaves rustling, branches swaying, wings flapping, and birds chirping as they prepared to ride the breeze into the sky…

He was just about to surrender himself to the pleasant sensation and drift back to sleep when he suddenly froze, realizing that something was wrong.

(It stinks! What is that smell?! It’s completely different from the smell of a wild animal… It’s like someone who hasn’t taken a bath in decades…)

Tenma summoned all his courage and opened his eyes.

There, staring at him with a smile, was a filthy humanoid creature.

(It’s smiling, but no matter how I look at it, that’s the face of something delighted to have found its prey…)

About thirty meters away, the humanoid “thing” slowly began approaching him, one step at a time.

Twenty-five meters…

Tenma tried to run, but his body had no strength whatsoever. He couldn’t even stand.

Twenty meters…

He tried to cry out for help, but he couldn’t produce a proper voice.

Fifteen meters…

He desperately looked around for someone to save him, but there was no one in sight. Seeing that, the “thing” let out a delighted laugh.

Ten meters…

Its unexpectedly enormous size, its grotesque appearance, and sheer terror overwhelmed him so completely that resignation came before he could even cry.

Five meters…

The creature laughed as it raised the huge wooden club in its hand. Tenma squeezed his eyes shut.

(Damn those gods! Why the hell did they dump me somewhere with a monster like this?! Do your jobs properly! What kind of cruel scenario has me dying only minutes after being reincarnated?!)

While Tenma cursed the gods in his mind, the monster showed no sign of stopping.

Just as the wooden club was about to come crashing down…

Whoosh! Thunk! Thud…

A series of strange sounds rang out.

When the expected blow never came, Tenma cautiously opened his eyes.

The monster was lying flat on its back, a thick arrow embedded right in the middle of its face.

“Well, that was close. Never thought I’d find a newborn baby in a place like this. Good thing I decided to come back and check.”

A voice speaking an unfamiliar language came from behind Tenma.

A moment later, the owner of that voice gently picked Tenma up and held him face-to-face.

The person holding him was…

A giant.

“What are you doing all the way out here, little guy? Where are your parents?”

The giant spoke in a gentle voice, but Tenma couldn’t understand a word.

“Could he have been abandoned? Poor kid… For now, I’d better take him back to the village.”

The giant muttered something, slung his bow over his back, and carefully adjusted the way he was holding Tenma.

Although Tenma had just suffered a minor panic attack, he could tell that the giant meant him no harm, so he decided to remain quietly in his arms.

…Not that he had much choice. His body barely moved properly in the first place.

“What a well-behaved little boy. He didn’t even cry with a goblin right in front of him. You’re going to grow up to be someone great, aren’t you?”

The giant muttered in a rather pleased tone.

Naturally, Tenma still had no idea what he was saying.

After being carried for about an hour, Tenma finally saw the faint outline of a village ahead.

“All right, we’re here. Hey! Anyone home?”

The giant called out, and several more “giants” soon came bustling over.

“Well, look who’s back early! Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be back until evening? Something happen?”

A male giant approached and spoke to him.

Then a female giant emerged from behind the man and quickly noticed Tenma.

“What’s with the baby? He’s adorable! Don’t tell me you kidnapped him?”

The woman laughed as she took Tenma into her arms.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I rescued him in the forest when a goblin was about to attack him. I searched the surrounding area, but he was completely alone. He was probably abandoned, so I cut the hunt short and brought him back.”

The giant who had rescued Tenma seemed to be explaining the situation to the woman.

Meanwhile, more and more giants gathered around them.

Looking at the scene, Tenma suddenly realized something.

(Come to think of it, that god said I’d be reincarnated as a baby… So these people aren’t actually giants. I’m just ridiculously small right now, aren’t I?)

As he was thinking, something strange appeared at the edge of his vision.

Ears.

More precisely, they weren’t human ears.

A pair of animal ears resembling a dog’s protruded from the top of one man’s head.

And he wasn’t the only one. Several others in the crowd also had animal ears, ranging from floppy dog ears to cat ears.

(So people called “beastkin” exist in this world too?)

While Tenma was still lost in thought, the discussion seemed to reach a conclusion.

He was taken to the home of the man who had rescued him and the woman who appeared to be his wife.

“From today onward, this will be your home. You can think of me as your mother.”

“Then I suppose I’ll be your father.”

“That’s right. Now, this little boy… Hmm, what’s his name?”

“Was there anything written on the cloth he was wrapped in? Maybe his name?”

“Hold on… Hmm, there is! It says ‘Tenma Ootori.’”

“He even has a family name. His parents might have been nobles. We don’t know whether he was abandoned or if something else happened, so let’s keep his name and raise him as Tenma. Nice to meet you, Tenma!”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Tenma.”

Although Tenma still couldn’t understand what they were saying, he could at least sense their friendliness and their genuine desire to care for him.

(Are these two going to become my new parents? If so… that would be wonderful.)

Tenma had lost his parents at an early age in his previous life, so he had very few memories of either a mother’s or a father’s love.

For that, he found himself feeling just a little grateful to the gods.

(The main story has now begun. From this point onward, the story will progress at a slightly faster pace.)

Author’s Note:

The reason Tenma mistook the goblin for an enormous monster was that he was panicking and had momentarily forgotten that he had just been reincarnated into the body of a newborn baby.