The giant child had been abandoned. He didn’t know who had given birth to him or when they’d thrown him away. He’d been left in a forest, as though that had been his home all along. It was there that a mage stumbled upon him living quietly and decided to raise him as her own.
Even as a baby, he was far larger than the human woman. Despite seemingly having been born with only one arm, the giant child was accepted by the woman.
“Filim.”
The name the woman had given him had grown familiar by the time he became aware of his surroundings. He considered the woman—a dwarf in his eyes—his mother. She taught him how to live in human society.
Filim wasn’t allowed to venture to the human village on his own because his large stature would frighten them. He needed permission to touch humans or objects made by them, and even then, he had to be careful. His strength could injure a human with just a touch.
As a child, Filim’s tantrums were met with patience by his mother. She played with him, made his meals, and talked to him when he couldn’t sleep at night. Without her, he likely would have died alone in the wild. Even if he had managed to survive, he would eventually have been hunted down as a monster.
One time, when he was playing in the forest, he heard the voices of humans other than his mother. It seemed like a group of human children were about to be kidnapped. Panicked and anxious, he looked to his mother, who asked him, “What do you want to do?”
“I-I wanna save them.”
“Why?”
“B-Because I think that’s what you would do.”
“My.” A bashful smile rose across his mother’s face. “Then let’s save them. But you shouldn’t get your hopes up.”
“What do you mean?”
“Saving someone doesn’t mean you’ll be met with gratitude.”
“O-Okay.”
Following his mother’s teachings, Filim carefully picked up the kidnappers and tossed them away lightly enough that they wouldn’t be seriously injured. The ones who attempted to flee through the trees were handled by his mother’s magic.
Although hearing the criminals call him a monster hurt, Filim successfully rescued the children. Then, they looked up at him with sparkling eyes.
“You’re so big!”
“Did you save us?”
“You were awesome!”
Contrary to his fears, the children accepted the giant. For the first time in his life, he’d made friends. Overjoyed, he didn’t understand why his mother’s smile was grim as she watched him.
At first, everything was great. The children often visited Filim’s house to play with the giant. Unfortunately, it didn’t last. Their parents eventually told them it was dangerous, and they stopped showing up. After his friends told him what their parents had said and left, Filim hugged his knees and cried.
“Why...? I’d never hurt my friends.”
Using magic to levitate, his mother patted his head. “Humans tend to fear and reject those who are different. That tendency only grows stronger as they get older. The open hearts of children turn cowardly with age.”
“Humans are all gonna be scared of me when they grow up?”
“That’s right. They can’t understand people who are different from them. People who are kinder, prettier, stronger, smarter, or even just bigger. They’re respected up until a certain point, but once you go past that, that respect turns into fear.”
“How come?”
“It’s a survival mechanism. When faced with a ferocious animal bearing sharp fangs, a person must feel fear to avoid death. Fear makes them run away, come up with a way to fight back, or simply never approach that animal’s territory in the first place.”
“I’m like an animal?”
“Absolutely not. You’re a kind boy, but people only see what’s on the surface.”
Someone prettier than me might think I’m ugly and insult me. Someone smarter than me might think I’m stupid and trick me. Someone stronger than me might think I’m weak and hit me. While those things were no more than paranoia until they actually happened, they were all very real possibilities.
“Your size might hurt them or their loved ones. Most people can’t overcome that fear. Being different means living with those fearful gazes directed at you.”
Hearing the loneliness in his mother’s voice, Filim looked up at her face. “Is that why you live alone?” She lived all by herself, deep in a forest.
“Yes. As you know, your mother is beautiful, smart, hardworking, and above all, a great cook. My talent for magic is much greater than most people’s. Facing the envy of the masses made life quite difficult.”
“Were you sad just like I am now?”
“Perhaps at one point, but not anymore. After all, it’s only because I was alone that I met my adorable baby boy.” Filim’s mother kissed his forehead. “Your mother is strong, so she’s okay with being alone. However, if you want to be around others, don’t give up.”
“I shouldn’t give up?”
“That’s right. People are quick to judge a book by its cover. There’s nothing you can do about that. But if you show them that what’s inside is nothing to fear, then maybe you can change their initial judgment.”
“Then I might be able to play with my friends again?”
“If that person is worth it.”
“I-I wanna get along with everyone.”
“My, am I not enough for you?”
“That’s not—”
His mother just giggled. “I’m only kidding. Even for a giant like you, the world is a big place. I don’t want to be the sort of mother who stops her child from spreading his wings.”
After that, Filim and his mother endeavored to be accepted by the people. They went around to the nearby villages and explained that Filim could communicate and control his strength. When monsters appeared, he would exterminate them. When criminals appeared, he would stop them. He helped the villages cultivate new fields, carried large boulders to dam a river that was about to overflow its banks, and cleared a road after it was blocked by a landslide.
Before he knew it, their fearful gazes were no more. On the contrary, the kingdom’s army even requested he serve the country. Although his mother was reluctant, Filim loved humans and thought it would be great to protect the people of his country.
Eventually, he took on the name of the city nearest to the forest where he lived with his mother and became known throughout the kingdom as the Giant of Trislimigante. No matter how different you were from other people, if you kept trying until they accepted you for who you were inside, you could get along. His mother had been right. Filim was happy.
Although there were times when he had to kill invading enemies at the fort he was stationed at, he felt rewarded when he returned to the city and saw the smiling faces of his people, his friends, and his mother. The city was home to his friends from childhood, his mother who had moved there from the forest, and his fellow soldiers. He would do his best to survive and protect them, no matter what enemies he faced.
He never thought there would come a day when the people of his beloved city would become those enemies.
On what should have been an uneventful day off, he suddenly heard screams and groans coming from all over.
“The living dead?! But the rate the infection is spreading isn’t normal! The city’s going to be crawling with undead in no time!” his mother shouted. That meant everyone in the city would die if he didn’t do anything. “Filim! Get out of the city now!”
Carrying his mother on his shoulder and picking up the few friends he had been meeting with on his day off, Filim headed outside the city. He jumped over the gate and, after putting some distance between him and the city, set everyone down.
“Filim? What are you doing?” his mother asked.
“I-I have to go back.”
“No. Those things aren’t like monsters or enemy soldiers. The curse will turn you into an undead. I can’t let that happen.”
“But I can use my size to help a bunch of people escape.”
“No!”
“But, mom, I wanna save everyone.”
“Th-Then I’ll come with you and—”
“No, mom. I want you to protect my friends.” Filim couldn’t levitate like his mother, so returning to the city almost certainly meant he’d be bitten and infected. He was already disobeying her. He didn’t want her to have to watch him die too.
“Perhaps I raised you too well.” His mother raised her head and smiled at him. Her eyes were moist with tears.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m honored to have such a wonderful son. But promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You have to come back safe and sound.” It was an impossible request.
“Okay.” But Filim knew that if he didn’t agree, she wouldn’t let him go.
“Good. Take care, my son.”
Filim looked at his friends.
“Filim! We’ll definitely meet again!”
“M-My parents are still in the city!”
“You’ll rescue the others, right?”
“Why don’t you just run away with us?”
“It’s okay,” Filim said. “We’ll meet again, and I’ll save everyone. I promise.”
After that, Filim returned to the city and helped as many townspeople escape as he could. However, his feet were bitten countless times in the process. There was no doubt he had been infected.
Swallowed up by the curse, Filim’s head was filled with happiness and he came to a realization. He hadn’t died—he couldn’t die. He could keep his promise and reunite with everyone, including his mother!
After only curions remained in the city, Filim had a curious thought—The city is safe now, so why doesn’t everyone come back? He would have gone to meet them, but some sort of invisible wall was keeping him inside the city. Where were his mother and his friends? Why weren’t they coming back?
Then Filim realized there were intruders in the city. There were thieves, humans dressed as holy knights, and humans who used holy women’s magic. The holy knights and holy women were particularly terrible—they went around killing the townspeople. Why would they do something so awful? Why would they kill kind people who had accepted him and obtained eternal life?
I know! Filim thought to himself. Mom and the others haven’t come back because those bad people are still around! I have to restore the peace! Filim hunted down the bad guys, eliminated them, and repeated the process over and over.
No matter how many he dealt with, it never ended. He almost got fed up with it, but his promise to reunite with his loved ones kept him going. At some point, as though to save him the trouble of hunting them down, he started being able to sense the bad guys’ locations. He continued eliminating them to restore his city’s peace and to keep his promise.
But now I’m the one dying. I’m not gonna be able to see my friends...or mom...