Niimi-san was staring blankly into the distance, a sight that was predictable, to say the least. Beside him, Hiiragi-san had buried her axe halfway through the trunk with a single strike—if you could even call it that. From within the wood, I heard a faint, snapping sound. It was so quiet that I suspected only the three of us could hear the fibers beginning to give way.
Since the length of the axe blade hadn't been enough to cut all the way through, the tree didn't look like it was going to fall just yet.
"……Niimi-san, is this about right?"
"……I mean, it’s fine, but I don’t even know what to say. Can you really cut that cleanly with an axe? It makes me think you could just chop the whole thing down in one go."
"I think we could, but the blade on this axe is too short for this trunk, so a straight cut would be tough. If I adjust my position and cut horizontally, I can make a triangular undercut, though."
"It sounds like you're saying you could cleave it in two if the blade were long enough…… Yeah, I suppose you lot actually could."
Niimi-san looked back and forth between the axe in Hiiragi-san’s hands and the deep gash in the tree. He nodded several times with a look of weary resignation, as if he had reached a new level of enlightenment.
After a few seconds of silence, he pulled himself together and spoke.
"Well, I'm sure you could do it, but don't you dare try it without preparation. If a tree loses its support at the base all at once, there’s no telling which way it’ll fall. Even if you were to try a stunt like that, you’d need to use ropes beforehand to pull it in the direction you want it to go."
Niimi-san’s point was perfectly valid. Creating an undercut allowed a person to control the direction of the fall by making the tree’s center of gravity tilt predictably. If you cut through it in a single stroke, the direction would be left entirely up to the tree’s natural balance. Without tension from a rope, trying to fell it in one hit was far too much of a gamble.
Hiiragi-san immediately offered a practical alternative.
"I understand…… but wouldn't it be okay if we just kicked the tree in the direction we want it to fall right after cutting through? Setting up ropes would just be an extra step."
Yuji and I both nodded in agreement. To us, a single kick was much easier than rigging ropes every time. It was an efficient, immediate solution that required no extra tools.
Niimi-san’s eyes widened in sheer exasperation. However, seeing that we were being completely serious, he pressed a hand to his face and looked up at the sky.
"Right. Well, I’ve obviously never seen a method like that, so I can’t really say…… but if you can actually do it, I suppose it’s fine……"
The answer was squeezed out of him, a non-committal response that was neither a yes nor a no. Like he said, he’d never seen anyone fell a tree that way, so he likely didn't know how else to react.
There was only one way to find an answer: try it.
"Then, can I try it on the next one? If it works, it’ll definitely speed things up."
"Well, I suppose there’s no harm in a test run. But safety remains the absolute priority."
"Understood. For now, I’ll finish this tree using the steps you taught me."
Whether he had surrendered or simply decided to let fate take the wheel, Niimi-san nodded. It felt like his common sense was in the middle of a total collapse, leaving him with no mental energy to argue.
After declaring she would continue, Hiiragi-san checked the notch in the trunk. She shifted her stance, swung the axe up diagonally, and sliced through with a light touch. Then…
"Now, once more horizontally."
She checked the two diagonal marks she’d made, leveled the axe, and swung again. To finish it off, she gave the notched section a light tap with the back of the axe head.
"……That is a remarkably clean undercut."
A triangular wedge of wood fell to the ground, revealing a smooth cut that offered almost no resistance. As Niimi-san noted, it was a beautiful, flat plane—completely unlike the jagged, gouged-out mess he had produced during his demonstration. It didn't look like it had been made with an axe at all.
I decided to ignore the fact that Niimi-san was currently rubbing his temples as if he had a migraine.
"And now I just cut the other side?"
"Yeah, that should make it fall. If it doesn't tip on its own, we’d usually drive a wedge into the back cut…… but start by making the cut first."
Hiiragi-san moved to the side opposite the undercut. She leveled her axe, aiming for the center of the notch, and swung through in a single motion.
But…
"……Niimi-san, it’s not falling."
"You're right, it isn't budging. Are the branches caught on something up there?"
I could hear the wood splintering near the base, but the tree itself remained upright. It might have tipped eventually if we waited, but we didn't have all day.
"Niimi-san, can I kick it? It seems like it would be faster to kick it over than to bother with a wedge."
"The trunk is a bit thick, so it's heavy. If the branches are tangled up there, a human kick isn't going to do much. I think you should use a wedge or a rope so you don't hurt your leg, but……"
"They say experience is the best teacher. Let her try it once. If it won't fall even with an undercut, then our proposal wouldn't work anyway."
"……Fair enough. Go ahead."
"Yes!"
Having secured his reluctant permission, Hiiragi-san prepared to kick down the stubborn tree. She handed her axe to Niimi-san, confirmed the direction of the fall, checked her footing, and took a deep breath. Then, she slammed her foot into the trunk just above the cut.
The impact landed with a heavy, dull thud. A massive cracking sound erupted from the base as the trunk snapped completely. The entire tree was sent flying several meters through the air.
"Oops, too hard."
"Wait—what!?"
"What!?"
Hiiragi-san!
Hiiragi-san watched the flying tree with a look of "my bad," while Niimi-san descended into total confusion at the sight of a tree being launched like a projectile. Takarada-san, Sasamori, and Yuta-san stared with wide eyes at the impossible scene, while Yuji and I shouted in alarm at her blunder.
As expected, the airborne tree crashed down with a roar, falling in a completely unintended direction.
"Ngh! Niimi-san, move!"
"Wha—!?"
Realizing the tree was falling toward their position, Hiiragi-san grabbed the dazed Niimi-san by the arm and hauled him out of the impact zone. Yuji and I grabbed the other three and pulled them back as well.
Seconds after we cleared the area, the tree hit the ground with a thunderous boom, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Hiiragi-san, having messed up spectacularly, received a stern lecture from Niimi-san, who was now wearing a wry, exasperated smile. Since someone could have been seriously hurt if we hadn't reacted, the scolding was well-deserved. Still, I honestly didn't think she had kicked it that hard.
"I’m very sorry. I misjudged the power behind it."
"No, well…… I was the one who gave the okay, and I never dreamed it would turn out like that. I should have thought it through more."
Since both sides had something to reflect on, they exchanged apologies and settled the matter. Fortunately, no one was hurt, so it was just a matter of not repeating the mistake. It wasn't something that needed to be dragged out.
Once the situation settled, we held a quick review meeting about the felling.
"The biggest point of reflection is that I completely misjudged what an explorer is capable of. I had no idea you could do something like that……"
"Regarding that, please remember that this is based on our specific abilities. This isn't the average for a standard explorer."
"So you're saying that among explorers, you all are in the upper tier?"
"In terms of civilian explorers, yes, I believe we're in the upper tier."
I had to make that clear. It would be a problem if they started measuring the entire explorer population by our standards. To a non-explorer, the gap between the middle and upper tiers probably wasn't obvious, but the difference was massive. As long as they understood we were far above the average, it would be fine.
Niimi-san nodded, though whether he truly grasped the scale of it was anyone's guess.
"For now, I'll take your word for it. But the felling method you proposed is still too dangerous. I can't argue with your axe skills, but you should stop the kicking. It's too unpredictable."
"I agree. It might be okay on flat ground like this where you can escape immediately, but on a slope, a mistake like that could lead to being crushed or falling off the ledge."
Even on a slope, we could probably get away in time, but I doubted a typical explorer could. We didn't want a dangerous method being documented as the standard procedure for explorer labor.
Just as we were about to wrap up, Takarada-san, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.
"Could I suggest something? If we tweak the method slightly, we might be able to use their idea."
"A tweak…… sir?"
"Yes. What she did just now was kick the tree—applying a massive amount of force instantaneously. That’s why it flew. However, if you can apply that same amount of force slowly, it’s no different from pulling with a winch or a rope. If you have the power to do that with a kick, surely you could use your hands to push the tree over with steady, controlled pressure?"
"Oh! Yeah, we can definitely do that," Yuji answered after a moment’s thought. As long as we had solid footing, maintaining constant pressure was easy.
Takarada-san nodded with satisfaction, as if he’d found the answer to a puzzle, and suggested that Niimi-san let us try one more time.
"Well, if it’s done that way, it should be safe enough, but……"
"They say experience is the best teacher, and we're here today to see exactly what explorers can do. Let’s try it."
"I suppose you're right. The logic isn't that far off from the basics. Let’s try again. But this time, safety is the absolute priority…… Hiiragi-san, would you mind trying once more?"
"Yes, of course!"
Happy to have a chance to redeem herself, Hiiragi-san agreed immediately. I just hoped she wouldn't get over-excited.
After Niimi-san picked out another tree, we all retreated to a safe distance, including the expert himself. We knew the drill by now, and Hiiragi-san could clear the area in an instant if something went wrong.
"Alright, I'm starting!"
"Be careful!"
As soon as Niimi-san gave the word, Hiiragi-san took a light stance and began. This trunk was slightly thicker than the last, but for her, it was a negligible difference.
"Hah!"
With a sharp exhale, her axe blurred. To Niimi-san and the others, it likely looked like a single swing, but she had actually struck three times in a single motion, perfectly carving out the undercut.
Because she immediately lowered her axe and moved to the other side of the tree, the experts looked confused. Yuji gave them a wry smile and called out.
"She's already finished the undercut. Now she's going to make the back cut and push it over."
"What? Finished already? She only swung the axe once!"
"No, she swung three times, just very fast. Look, you can see the notch right there……"
As the experts stared in shock, they followed Yuji’s pointing finger to see Hiiragi-san already pressing her hands against the trunk.
"It's going down!"
With that, the massive tree began to tip. It fell exactly where the undercut pointed, hitting the ground with a heavy thud and a cloud of dust. Just as Takarada-san had predicted, the "slow push" method worked perfectly. The entire process had taken less than thirty seconds. If she had a blade longer than the tree’s diameter, she could probably shave another ten seconds off that.
Niimi-san and the others were wearing expressions of pure shock—a different kind than before. I could only think one thing: they’d better get used to it.
At this rate, we might be able to clear an entire forest in a single day.