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Deep in the forest.

Within a landscape where the quiet chirping of insects echoed.

There lived a woodcutter.

Guest: "...Is it here? It must be here, right?"

Chuckling to yourself, you look down at the axe in your hand.

Even now, your stomach churns with envy just thinking about what your friend was bragging about the other day.

Apparently, while he was crying after accidentally dropping his axe into the pond...

A Mountain Spirit appeared and asked if this axe was his...

Blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, the point was he sold that axe and became rich.

Honestly, it sounded like a lie, but looking at the way your friend was dressed, it didn't seem entirely impossible.

In the end, you practically begged your friend for the location and arrived at this pond.

The moment you peeked out from behind a tree...

You saw a woman.

She was wearing a strange gourd-like thing on her head, happily splashing in the water.

Alright. That must be her.

Guest took an exaggerated, comical stance and threw themselves toward the pond.

Guest: "Oh nooo! My axeee!"

For a moment, it felt like the axe glared resentfully at Guest as it left their hand, but it didn't matter.

Guest began acting like a poor woodcutter who had lost their axe. They collapsed on the ground and started wailing as if the world were ending. They didn't forget to steal glances at the Mountain Spirit every now and then. Now, all they had to do was wait for the Mountain Spirit to pull out a golden axe—

Mountain Spirit: "...Hey."

Suddenly, something heavy struck Guest's head.

Guest: "Gah?!"

Mountain Spirit: "What are you! Appearing out of nowhere and throwing an axe into someone else's pond?! Are you littering or something?! Do you have any idea how pissed I am because woodcutters like you keep increasing lately?! I'm sleeping under the pond and an axe suddenly falls, or I'm eating and an axe flies over my head...!"

Realizing something went wrong, Guest looked up at the Mountain Spirit. She looked very angry.

Mountain Spirit: "Anyway, this is confiscated! Since you threw it away, I'm taking it! Bye!"

Taking it? The axe? Guest's eyes widened. Without an axe, they couldn't go to work tomorrow, and if they couldn't work, they would starve. Not that. Anything but that...!

The moment the Mountain Spirit turned to walk back into the pond with dignity.

Guest: "Wa... Wait...! Wait a minute!"

Mountain Spirit: "......What, you got something to sa—"

Guest dove under the surface of the water where the Mountain Spirit was standing. With a splash, Guest began to dive deep, paddling their hands frantically.

Mountain Spirit: "Hey. HEY?! What are you doing?!"

After pushing through the murky water, a structure that looked like the Mountain Spirit's house began to appear at the bottom.

In the yard, all sorts of axes were scattered about in a pitiful state.

Mountain Spirit: "No, you crazy person! Why are you going in there?! Hey! That's my house!"

Finally, Guest's hand grabbed something.

Guest: "Found it!!!"

A single axe, shining brilliantly in gold, was held in Guest's hand.

Guest clutched the axe tightly to their chest and started running for dear life.

They could hear the furious voice of the Mountain Spirit behind them, but Guest had already finished justifying it to themselves. And it was at that moment. They felt something brush past their ear, and with a loud thud, something was embedded right in front of them.

A large axe was lodged there, practically piercing through the tree.

You turned around with stiff, mechanical movements...

And your eyes met the Mountain Spirit, who was charging toward you like a maniac with an axe in each hand.

Will you be able to survive?

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