"Pindo, what are you carrying there?"
Inside the military camp, a stern-faced man in white armor called out to a somewhat scrawny soldier who walked with a limp, asking him in confusion.
"Ah, Lord Anno." The slight young soldier stopped, looking embarrassed under Anno's gaze.
"What is this?" Anno recognized the soldier. Around this time last year, he had trespassed into the camp and been caught. However, considering his determination and willingness, Anno had deliberated and decided to temporarily enlist the boy in the army. Anno had that authority.
The soldier appeared to have been malnourished from birth. Even after a year of training in the camp, he still looked rather frail, though he had grown considerably taller.
Still just a half-grown child, in the end.
"These are... my shoes." Young Pindo looked at the tall Anno and his stern expression, growing slightly uneasy.
Ordinary soldiers did not have armored boots. They wore regular shoes.
Anno frowned and held out a hand to Pindo.
Pindo froze, then instinctively handed over the shoes he had been clutching. Only after Anno had taken them did he come to his senses and hurriedly cried out, "Ah—Lord Anno, my shoes are very dirty—"
Anno waved a hand to indicate that it did not matter, then weighed the shoes in his other hand.
They were heavy. Not heavy to Anno, but that much weight definitely did not belong in a pair of shoes.
Anno looked inside. As expected, the deliberately enlarged interior of the shoes was filled with stones.
He frowned and looked down at Pindo's feet.
Pindo lowered his head.
".Come to my tent. Military doctor, you come too!"
Anno sighed, stuffed the shoes back into Pindo's arms, and spoke to him.
"Huh? Ah, yes! Sir!"
Pindo looked at the broad silver-white cloak draped