Standing in front of the bed with his arms crossed and Glacia beside him, Aoni stared down at the two weapons in a bit of a puzzle.
"How exactly am I supposed to carry two Sheathless weapons around? Better yet, can Hook Blades even be sheathed?" thinking aloud and sporting a thoughtful frown, he tried to find a plausible way to store the weapons that didn't include carrying them around at all times.
Standing beside him, Glacia, although having no clue at all what her Lord was muttering, had her arms crossed and was sitting on her butt in a mock gesture similar to Aoni's own.
From time to time, she would look up at him and OoO or Gao while nodding her head as if in agreement.
"From what I can see, there isn't a practical, better yet, "safe" way to carry these two around, given all the sharp and pointy bits…" His eyes drifted toward the guard and spearhead at the base where a pommel was usually positioned.
"oooO?"
"The only conceivable way I can think of is if I had a modified shoulder holster, one that could wrap around the part right above the guard and hilt with some buckles or something, but even that would be a pain in the ass to deal with."
"OoOoo"
"Then again, the same could be said for having them on my hips, which also poses a risk because if they moved too far forward, I could potentially hook my own ankles."
"Gaoo"
"Sigh, I guess my only option is to carry them around; what do you think, Glacia?" Aoni asked, more so bouncing ideas off her than actually asking and expecting an answer.
"oOo." Noticing he was speaking directly at her, Glacia looked up at the Lad in confusion and responded in the typical way Aoni had come to expect.
"Un, why did I even ask, heh," shrugging his shoulders, Aoni went over to the bookshelf and collected his empty pack, put on the makeshift jacket, and then wore the pack before reaching down and scooping up both weapons in their proper hands.
"I don't expect to come across any enemies out there, but in the event we find some small game that didn't get pushed out by the barrier, we can try catching them for harvest."
"GAOOOO!"
"Yeah, food," rolling his eyes, Aoni spun around and crouched in front of his summon, indicating he wanted her to climb aboard, but much to his surprise, she instead decided to hop a free ride inside of the backpack, causing the Lad to chuckle at her antics.
Soon enough, Glacia's head was poking out the top of the pack, and her chin resting on Aoni's shoulder as they made their way to the mouth of the cave and out into the broad daylight.
As mentioned, the storm that had been raging for the past few days had finally died down to a soft dusting of snow. Standing at the mouth of the cave, Aoni quickly raised his arm to shield his eyes from the sun, then smiled brightly and took in the breathtaking mountainous view.
Seeing it from above in the flume didn't do the territory justice because while the mountain was by far the tallest, it wasn't remotely close to the only one.
Off in the distance, Aoni counted dozens of other, smaller mountains surrounding his own, and each had different types of forests teeming with beasts, monsters, and maybe…natives.
However, given his proximity to them, which Aoni assumed to be at least 40 to 50 miles away from the base of his mountain, it was impossible to tell if there was anything even living there.
"Kind of wish I had a pair of binoculars or maybe a spyglass…" Aoni mused while stepping out and sinking into the fresh, powdered snow.
"Ehh…this is gonna get annoying," lifting his foot, the Lad took a step and noticed the snow was up to mid-thigh now, not a great sign because it meant he'd be expending a significant amount of stamina just to move.
Taking in his immediate surroundings, Aoni quickly noticed that his cave was clearly not a naturally formed structure; instead, it was like someone or something had taken the Mountain Peak and dropped a cookie cutter onto it, flattening out the terrain to such an extent that the area spanning around the cave, which was the literal peak, was flat in a 50-foot circle, leaving his dwelling as the direct center.
Because of this formation, it was like the tip of the mountain was transformed into a house with a circular platform separating it from the edge of the mountain; however, the area at the edge of the ring sloped downward like a ramp until merging seamlessly with the mountainside.
The manmade formation was a result of Aoni becoming the Lord of this Territory.
Upon having this location designated as being under the control of a new Lord, magical changes would naturally occur to accommodate the basic necessities of the Lord. In Aoni's case, that happened to be bulldozing the peak for the most part.
Still, all that work done by whatever entity did it could potentially be for naught.
If his flume were ever destroyed, Aoni would fall into the statistical category of a Fallen Lord, and any Tom, Dick, or Harry could place a flume to claim the land as their own.
Mind you, there were extra steps and materials required, but you get the gist.
Not wanting to stay idle, Aoni began slogging through the deep snow, one step at a time, until reaching the edge of the little platform and looking down the mountain.
"Tsss, I can't believe I actually climbed this as a newly Awakened…hell, I'm not so sure im even ready to hike down for exploration."
"Ooo," reaching up, Glacia, sensing her Lord's dismay, patted his head several times in an attempt to make him feel better.
"Yeah…im being a baby, I know," wearing a smug expression, Aoni smacked his lips and rolled his eyes before adjusting his grip and pausing to look down at the weapons as an idea rapidly formed in his brain.
"Hehhh, stupid…"Lazily narrowing his eyes, Aoni then leaned forward and stabbed both hook blades into the snow, turning them from weapons into stabilizing tools.
"Who said they need to be weapons at all times?" With a shrug, he began making his way down the mountain with Glacia, using his shoulder as a pillow.