The next morning, Till and Comm wake Van in a hurry, interrupting a very important dream. Till tells him that something serious has happened at the lake, so Van quickly gets ready and heads there. Along the way, he learns that the villagers have named the lake Lake Van, leaving him slightly horrified. He immediately decides that he needs to stop them from naming the entire village after him as well.
When Van reaches the lake, he finds the villagers gathered around a strange creature hiding in the water. Dee leads him to the source of the commotion: a mermaid. Esparda explains that mermaids normally live in secluded rivers deep inside forests, so nobody understands how they ended up in Van’s newly created lake.
Van tries speaking to the mermaid, but she doesn’t respond. Thinking she may not understand human language, Van tries something simpler: food. He has Till and Comm bring some roasted meat, and the mermaid immediately swims toward it. After eating, she recognizes it as armored lizard meat and asks who defeated the monsters. Before Van can give credit to everyone involved, the villagers unanimously declare that Van defeated them. Satisfied, the mermaid disappears beneath the water.
Van assumes she probably won’t return, but the very next day, an entire group of mermaids arrives at his doorstep. Their leader thanks Van for treating his daughter kindly and asks whether he really defeated the armored lizards. Van insists that it was a team effort, but nobody seems interested in that part. The mermaids are amazed that such a young boy could defeat creatures they considered extremely dangerous.
The mermaid leader then calls Van a hero and unexpectedly offers him permission to marry his daughter, Lada. Van is completely caught off guard and immediately points out that Lada is still a child and clearly doesn’t understand marriage. He asks why the mermaids are making such an offer in the first place. The mermaid king explains that his people normally avoid humans, but recently armored lizards invaded their territory and killed many of their kind. Their gratitude toward Van for defeating the monsters is the reason they now consider him a hero.
The mermaid king explains that he was prepared to marry his daughter to any hero capable of defeating the armored lizards. Van understands his reasoning but refuses the proposal, telling him that Lada should be free to marry whoever she chooses when she grows up. He promises to help the mermaids anyway because he genuinely wants to protect his new friends.
The mermaid king then asks if his people can live in Van’s lake. Van happily agrees and quickly creates floating houses for them. The mermaids settle in immediately. Soon, Esparda brings up the village’s sewage problem, and the mermaid king offers his people’s help since they are skilled with water magic. Thanks to them, Van’s sanitation system becomes much easier to manage, and the mermaid king insists that handling the sewage is the least they can do in exchange for a safe home.
Soon, Arte and Meera arrive and are shocked to discover an entire mermaid community living in the lake. The mermaid king innocently calls Van his son-in-law, confusing both women. Before Van can explain, Lada proudly declares that Van is her husband, making the situation even more awkward. Van quickly explains that he rejected her father’s marriage proposal, so they are not actually engaged.
The next day, Van takes Arte out on a boat ride so they can clear up the misunderstanding. Arte tells him that Meera already explained everything, so there is no problem. She then praises Van for building the lake and transforming the village so quickly. But Lada soon appears and becomes jealous after seeing Van with another girl. Several mermaid children join her and start calling Van the “Meat Lord” while rocking the boat. Arte accidentally falls onto Van, making Lada even more jealous.
Lada demands to know why another girl is sitting with her husband, forcing Van to remind her once again that they are not married. Lada pouts and disappears underwater while the other mermaid children accuse Van of bullying their princess. They rock the boat even harder while Van desperately tries to calm them down with offers of meat. Eventually, the mermaid king himself arrives, leaving Van terrified by his serious expression.
The mermaid king says Lada told him that Van was flirting with another woman despite already being her husband. Van immediately denies this and reminds him that he never accepted the marriage proposal. Instead of listening to reason, the mermaid king proposes a competition between the mermaids and Van’s people. If the mermaids win, Van must officially marry Lada. Before Van can refuse, Dee accepts the challenge for him, confident that the Knights can secure victory. Esparda agrees, saying settling the matter quickly will give Van more time for his studies. With Meera also supporting the idea and Till and Comm insisting that Van cannot lose, he reluctantly accepts.
The mermaid king proposes a three-event competition and lets Van choose the first event. Van chooses water polo, thinking it will be fair since neither side knows the game. He creates a pool and explains the rules. Even Esparda is surprised by the strange game, while Till becomes even more impressed by how much Van knows. Soon, everyone gets ready for the match, with Meera and Till representing Van’s side while Lada and the mermaid king lead the mermaids.
As soon as the match begins, the mermaids dominate thanks to their natural swimming ability. They quickly build a huge lead, leaving Till discouraged by halftime. Meera refuses to let her lose hope and reminds her that they cannot allow such a small challenge to defeat their loyalty to Van. Inspired, Till fights back, and the human team slowly closes the gap. The match reaches its final point, but despite Meera’s desperate attempt to block the mermaid king’s shot, the mermaids score and win the first event.
Van is disappointed, but the mermaid king immediately announces the second event: a swimming relay race. Van realizes that competing against mermaids in their own environment is a terrible idea. Dee, however, remains confident, while Comm volunteers to participate as well.
The race begins with Lada and Comm taking the first leg. As expected, Lada quickly pulls ahead, even diving underwater to increase her speed. Comm struggles to keep up but somehow manages to stay close enough to tag Dee. With that, the second leg begins, and the real challenge is finally underway.
Dee starts the relay using the butterfly stroke, leaving Van wondering why he didn’t choose the easier front crawl. The other knights explain that Dee’s strength makes the butterfly stroke ideal for him, and he powers through the water like a speedboat, overtaking the mermaid and winning the race. The mermaid king is stunned that his people actually lost a swimming competition, while Dee proudly walks out of the water without realizing that the speed of his swim has completely destroyed his swimwear.
With the score tied, the mermaid king asks Van to choose the final event. Van creates a shaved-ice machine and has Pluriel make the ice, then covers it with flavored syrup. He announces a shaved-ice eating contest and decides to participate himself. Arte unexpectedly volunteers as his partner, determined to support Van. Soon, the four contestants sit down with enormous bowls of shaved ice, and the contest begins.
Everyone immediately suffers from brain freeze, but the mermaid king refuses to give up because he still wants Lada to marry Van. He powers through the pain, with Lada following his example. Van starts thinking they are finished, but Arte slowly recovers and continues eating one spoonful at a time. Her determination inspires Van to keep going, and after an intense battle, Van and Arte finish their bowls first and win the competition.
The mermaid king accepts the defeat but still proudly calls Van his son-in-law, saying that he has proven himself even more worthy of Lada. Van is left wondering what the competition actually accomplished. Soon, however, his stomach starts hurting from eating too much ice, and everyone gathers around to help him.
Meanwhile, Meera congratulates Arte, who keeps watching Van surrounded by people who genuinely care about him. Arte wonders what it would be like to receive that kind of affection herself. Growing up, she was mostly ignored by her parents. Her father was constantly busy, while her mother left her with a nanny and barely showed any interest in raising her. Arte was timid and struggled academically, but she had an exceptional talent for marionette magic. Hoping to finally impress her mother, she demonstrated her abilities, only to be slapped and rejected because nobles considered marionette magic dangerous and disgraceful.
After years of being treated as an unwanted child, Arte was sent away at the age of ten to marry the lord of a nameless village. She was understandably frightened, but after meeting Van, she discovered that he was kind and genuinely cared about others despite possessing the supposedly useless production magic.
He was still confident and everyone loved him. Seeing him now, Art decides to practice even more with her puppetry magic so that one day everyone will love her for that. The next day, Van gathers the villagers for some construction work and hypes them up with the promise of a barbecue party at night. Just then, Art comes there to greet him and asks if she can see him work because she wants to be more like him.
