We finally arrived in Westa after several days of traveling. After hitching up with a caravan, we were now at Westa's gates.

"Feels great to be home, don't you agree?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah. I'm worried about the stockpile of paperwork waiting for me", I answered.

I've been gone for more than 2 weeks and I was sure enough that Captain Noel didn't touch any of the paperwork while I was gone. Maybe Temma worked on some of them... My head was starting to hurt thinking about working overtime again.

Amelia and I separated ways and I headed straight to the 13th unit's barracks. My Excellular vibrated and another message from Suisei appeared.

Suisei and I have been messaging each other regularly after our "date." Although she would just vent out her stress in her idol career while I would listen. She would also ask what I did for the day.

Ever since I lost my memories, I couldn't access my Excellular. Suisei sulked that I wasn't replying to her messages. Although I managed to clear up the misunderstanding, she said I owe her a favor for not telling her. Girls were unreasonable so I didn't bother arguing.

"Mikage! You're back!" Temma smiled when he saw me enter the barracks.

"Hey, Temma. Sorry for worrying you", I said.

"Mikage's back! I will no longer have to worry about paperwork!" Captain Noel cheered.

"Yeah. I brought souvenirs too", I took out some things I bought from Pekoland.

Captain Noel got a pack of beef meat that was raised in Pekoland. I heard their meat was tasty since they ate special grass that grew in that country. Temma received a bottle of wine from Pekoland. Roberu told me Temma's favorite wine and Pekoland had a great selection.

"Nice. Coco would love our dinner tonight which is beef bowl", Captain Noel said.

"Thanks. I could use a wine or two", Temma smiled.

I talked with Temma about my travels and after that, I headed to bed. My bed felt really comfortable and I immediately snoozed to dream land.

Morning came and my routine started again. I had to train with Temma for an hour or so to polish my sword skills.

"Hey, Temma", I called out.

"Yeah?"

"Can I also train with my magic?"

"I don't really mind... But why?"

"Let's say I needed to get stronger. I have to be able to fight using Dark Magic and swords as soon as I can."

"It's good that you want to be stronger. Okay then. Come at me!"

We sparred for a while. Even with Anya's help, I was having a hard time using both my shadow and sword while fighting. In my previous fight, I only fought using either my sword or my shadow at a time. It was hard to control my shadow while swinging my weapon.

"We should probably stop for today. Wouldn't want to use up all of our energy first thing in the morning", Temma said.

"I'll train a bit more", I told him.

"Okay then. Don't overwork yourself. You still got paperwork to worry about", he left the training area.

I tried doing some moves that involved me swinging my sword and using my shadow but it didn't work. Either my shadow was too slow or my sword strikes would be too weak whenever I tried it.

Using magic required an image and resolve. If I was in the heat of battle, I wouldn't have time producing a solid image in my mind while I was wielding a sword. This was bad. I didn't have an idea on how to do both at the same time.

You seem to be stuck, Anya's voice echoed in my mind.

My sword glowed and transformed into a small brown-haired girl.

"Yeah. I'm having a hard time doing both at the same time... I need to learn how to do it or else I wouldn't be stronger", I said.

"It's because of what Shiroe said, isn't it?" she asked.

She must have seen my memories already. Shiroe was right. I didn't know when or where the Unkindness would attack so I have to be strong as soon as possible.

"Yeah. I have to be capable of parallel processing as soon as possible", I answered.

"I'll help you out then. All of my previous wielders were battle mages so you could say this is my specialty", she said.

"Battle mages?"

"You've seen how Temma fights, right? He could use magic and martial arts at the same time."

I remembered the time when we were investigating Arthur Karalis' murder. It ended with us fighting the Unkindness. Temma used magic such as Fortress Howl and Mind's Eye.

"Battle mages are similar to his style except that they use active magic more than passive magic", Anya said.

"Passive magic? Active magic?" I asked.

"Passive magic is a type of magic that doesn't require conscious effort to use. For example, Mind's Eye would enhance the user's senses to the point that they could predict an opponent's moves for a duration of time without consciously managing his mana. Active magic is a type of magic that needs your mind to pay attention to it. Like how you would pay attention to controlling your own shadow", she explained.

"I get it... Passive magic is like a buff while active magic is a skill."

"If you put it in video game terminology, then yes. However, battle mages can do active magic while doing martial arts without any drawbacks. It's what you are trying to achieve with parallel processing, right?"

I nodded.

"You see... Everyone's subconsciously doing parallel processing on a daily basis", she said.

"Really? How?" I asked.

"Imagine a guy riding a horse. It's not like he's always known how to ride. Balancing, posture, taming the horse, processing what's ahead of and behind him at all times, and several other actions are done at the same time subconsciously. He learned each of those one by one then practiced until he could do them all subconsciously."

"So I have to learn them one at a time?"

"Yep. Start by learning to do something subconsciously. When you're done with that, add on a second. What you're trying to do is built on a foundation of smaller parts, stacked on top of each other, one by one. There might be geniuses out there but for the rest of us, growing one step at a time is the only path forward."

"So you think I'm rushing?"

"Yep. Stay calm. For now, learn how to use your shadow subconsciously. Once you achieve that, learn how to fight using both your sword and shadow. As you accumulate experience, it'll be easier."

"Got it. For now, I have to be able to control my shadow without any delays."

Anya transformed back into a sword and I picked her up. I headed to the bathroom to take a shower and it was back to paperwork.

At least, that was the plan.

When I arrived at the captain's office to do my work, there was an unexpected blue-haired guest.

"Suisei? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Ah. Mikage... Just in time, we were talking about you", Captain Noel said.

"Me? What for?"

"How good are you in competitions?" she asked.

... What?

###

A/N: New arc is here! And of course, it's going to be a TOURNAMENT ARC! It's definitely not because I can't think of a plot and want to have the characters fight each other for no good reason.