The main story begins now.
My consciousness surfaced on the sensation of wind brushing against my body.
...Ah, so I'm waking up... carried by the wind, I can smell grass and trees mixed with earth — am I in a forest...?
With every gust, I heard leaves rustling, leaves dancing, and the calls of birds taking flight along with the wind, their wings beating through the air...
That pleasant feeling was about to make me drift off once more... when I noticed something was wrong.
(Stench! What is that smell?! It's not the smell of a beast either... It smells like I haven't bathed in years...)
Steel- ing myself, Tenma opened his eyes, and there — in front of him — was a filthy, humanoid something, looking right at him with a grin on its face.
(It's smiling, but that's clearly the face of something that just found its prey and is thrilled about it~)
About thirty meters away, the humanoid "something" was slowly closing the distance, one step at a time.
Twenty-five meters remaining... Tenma tried to scramble away, but his body had no strength and he couldn't even stand up.
Twenty meters remaining... He tried to call out for help, but no real sound came from his throat.
Fifteen meters remaining... He scanned his surroundings, searching for anyone nearby, but no one was there. Seeing this, the "something" let out a laugh.
Ten meters remaining... The sheer size, the hideousness, and the terror were beyond what he had imagined — and rather than crying, a sense of resignation came first.
Five meters remaining... The something raised a log-like club above its head, still grinning. Tenma clamped his eyes shut.
(Those gods — why did they leave me in a place where monsters like this live! Do your jobs, damn it! Reborn for just a few minutes only to die — how utterly cruel can a story get!)
While Tenma was cursing the gods in his mind, the monster's movements had not stopped.
Just as the monster's club was about to come swinging down — whoosh, thud, rumble... went the sounds.
Wondering why the blow never fell, Tenma cautiously opened his eyes. There, in front of him, lay the monster with a thick arrow lodged dead center in its face.
"My, my — that was a close one. I never expected to find a baby in a place like this. Good thing I came to check on things, just to be safe."
Words spoken in an unfamiliar tongue drifted from behind Tenma.
Then the voice's owner lifted Tenma with ease and held him cradled against their chest, facing outward.
Their true form was... a giant.
"Why were you in a place like this? Where's your daddy or mommy?"
The giant spoke in a gentle tone, but Tenma couldn't understand a word.
"Maybe you've been abandoned, poor thing... Well, I'll take you back to my village for now."
The giant murmured something, slung the bow back over their shoulder, and gently readjusted Tenma in their arms. Tenma had fallen into a mild panic, but since the giant didn't seem to bear any ill will, he decided to stay quiet. ...Well, truth be told, he had no choice but to stay quiet since he could barely move his body anyway.
"You're a quiet one — you wouldn't even cry out in front of a goblin. You might turn out to be someone great someday."
The giant's voice carried a hint of a smile as they murmured. As usual, Tenma had no idea what they were saying.
Tenma was carried along as the giant walked for roughly an hour, and before long a village came into view.
"Alright, we're here. Ooooy, anyone around?"
When the giant called out, a number of other giants came bustling over.
"Hey! You're back early — you said you wouldn't be home until tonight. What happened?"
A male giant spoke up, and a female giant who had been following behind him noticed Tenma in his arms.
"What's this, a child? A cute little one, too — you didn't just snatch someone's kid, did you?"
The female giant smiled down at Tenma as she spoke.
"Don't be ridiculous. I found him in the forest about to be attacked by goblins. I searched the area, and he was the only one around. Might be abandoned, so I called off the hunt and headed back."
The giant seemed to be conversing with the female giant. While they talked, more and more giants gathered around, and Tenma watched them as he thought—
Come to think of it, that god said he'd be reincarnated as a baby... Does that mean these aren't giants but ordinary humans?
As these thoughts ran through his mind, something unfamiliar caught the corner of his vision. Ears — more precisely, not human ears but animal ones, dog-like ears sitting atop the man's head. And it wasn't just him; several of the gathered people had animal ears as well. Floppy dog ears, cat-like ears, and the like.
So beings like what you'd call "beastmen" really do exist?
While Tenma was pondering this, the conversation must have reached its conclusion, and he was taken to the home of the person who had brought him there and a woman who appeared to be that person's wife.
"From today, this is your home. Think of me as your mother, okay?"
"Then I guess that makes me the father?"
"That's right, sweetie. Um… what was the name again?"
"Is there anything written on the cloth he's wrapped in that looks like a name?"
"Hold on a sec… hmm… here we go! It says 'Tenma Ootori'!"
"He's got a family name, huh? His parents might have been nobles. We don't know yet whether he was abandoned or not, so let's raise him with this name. Nice to meet you, Tenma!"
"Nice to meet you, Tenma."
As usual, Tenma couldn't understand a word they were saying, but he could at least tell that the two of them were friendly and seemed willing to take care of him.
Are these two going to be my surrogate parents? If so, I'd be happy about that.
Having lost his parents at a young age in his previous life, Tenma had very few memories of what it meant to have parents, and he felt a small surge of gratitude toward the gods.
The main story begins here. From now on, I plan to pick up the pace of the story a bit.
The reason I thought goblins were huge monsters was that Tenma was so confused he had forgotten he had been reincarnated into a baby's body.