"Uh... hi?" His voice drifted like a leaf on tidewater.

"..." Ling Yehan felt awkward; the girl watched him in still-water silence. Her features echoed his, like a blurred mirror in frost. He thought of the orphanage’s cold halls and shook off the idea; he couldn’t have Merfolk kin.

"We can talk, right? Why did you attack passing merchant ships? They didn’t provoke you." His words reached out like a rope across water.

'Are you here to avenge them?' The voice didn’t pass her lips. It slid through the ear like a cold blade and struck the soul. It was a god-tier tongue, a wind that ignored race and distance, a command that forced understanding. It scraped the senses raw, a storm used to show dominance. She clearly disdained speaking to him.

Ling Yehan grew angry. Anger burned like an ember under ice. He wanted to bite back in that same tongue. He couldn’t. That speech had vanished from the world, a relic only old monsters mutter. For a young man like him, it was a mountain of ice.

"I don’t really get what you mean. But I did come to stop you from taking more lives, even if I can’t beat you."

'Then come.' She closed her eyes like a tide pulling back. When they opened, her pupils were pale blue, and her aura surged like a rising storm.

"Hey, wait! I’m not here to fight!" And I can’t beat you... "I’m here to talk, uh—hey, don’t do that!" A formless water blade whooshed past his side like a scything current.

"I don’t know why you’re lashing out at the world, but those people are innocent. Please spare them. If I can help, I’ll try." His words were a lantern in mist.

'Innocent? Heh... ha... hahahahaha! Those people deserve that word?' Her laugh was salt and iron. 'Do you know why this world has no hell?' 'Because the evil spirits climbed out.' 'What’s the use of an empty hell?' The Merfolk girl’s pressure crashed down like a deep-sea trench. Even Ling Yehan staggered under it.

'You say you can compensate me? Then return the lives of the hundreds of millions of my kin!' She slid into madness, a whirlpool without a center. Her attacks swelled—thin, meters-wide blades became columns of razor water. Vortices rolled in one after another. They fought in the open sea; she owned the water like a queen in her domain. Each hundred-meter surge carried dense mana; a single hit could be fatal. Ling could only take it and dodge, breath strangled by invisible weight.

With no way out, Ling Yehan shaped an ice grotto around himself, a pale shell beneath the waves. It shattered at once under crushing pressure. She didn’t plan to reason. If he didn’t strike back, he would die.

He drew a deep breath, the kind that tastes of brine and steel, and let his magic burn cold. To oppose her, he had to get close. He needed to close like a hawk in a gale. But water elements crowded in; the sea was a natural field, a vast hand pinning him. If he wanted to fight here, he had to wrestle the whole sea.

Sword, come!

"Please, Frostwhisper!" He didn’t hesitate. He summoned his contract weapon—Frostwhisper. She wasn’t just a blade. She was family, a friend. She had watched over him since childhood. Without her, he’d never have made it here.

Frost Slash, Sundering Sky!

Sword-qi, laced with killing cold, cleaved toward the girl. The surrounding sea flashed to ice. Even the swirling vortices split under that cut.

The unstoppable arc rushed for her. She acted as if she didn’t see it. Her gaze locked on Ling Yehan’s sword. Blue drained from her eyes, leaking back into gold.

"Hey! Did you freeze up?" His voice cracked like ice. The sword-qi was a hair from her. She didn’t move. Ling panicked. This strike wasn’t weak. If it landed, she could die.

He had no choice. He tore his own technique apart, the way a hunter snaps his bowstring to stop a stray shot. Whether it was his bad habit or this mission’s aim, he had to.

'Your sword—where did you get it?' [Merfolk]

"???" Lady, you almost died just now. Can we have a little self-awareness? And I don’t understand what you just said. His thoughts skidded like hooves on wet stone.

The girl blinked, sunlight on water. She noticed he couldn’t understand and looked awkward.

'Ahem. I’m asking—your sword. Where did it come from?' The voice softened like rain. [Merfolk]

"Could you be more polite, maybe? This sword is my life-bound weapon. My only contract weapon. Her name is—"

'Frostwhisper.' Her tone trembled like a string on ice. [Merfolk]

"How do you know that... has my fame already reached the sea?" Ling Yehan processed her reaction and leaned into it. "Heh-heh. That’s right. I’m Ling Yehan, the youngest to earn the Adventurers’ Association’s Hero title. Title: Icefrost."

The Adventurers’ Association is the largest non-state force on the continent. Its leaders serve no kingdom, and their strength is legend. Its standing rivals any top academy; its reach is vast. Few dare to make trouble. The Association exists to offer work to those who can’t find it elsewhere.

A Hero is the Association’s seal upon a champion. The name sounds old-school, but anyone who bears it stands among the continent’s peak.

'You say Frostwhisper is your life-bound weapon? What proof do you have?' [Merfolk]

Ah, why am I proving things to her... Still, I came to her first. Also, I can’t beat her—underline that. "Frostwhisper." He drew breath. "Transform."

The weapon in Ling Yehan’s hand burst into light. The slim longsword became a stunning girl of about sixteen. Her white hair curled in a side ponytail, like a sprig of winter. The hilt he held turned into her small, soft hand.

Frostwhisper gave her master a blank look, like a snow mask. Then her expression smoothed. She stared straight at the Merfolk girl like a blade held level.

"Frostwhisper, do you... remember me?" [Merfolk]

The white-haired girl cut her a side-eye and said nothing. Silence was refusal.

"Uh, Frostwhisper, do you understand her words?"

Frostwhisper nodded to her master, a snowflake of motion.

"Then could you translate for me..."

"She says she knows Frostwhisper."

"Huh? What?" That made no sense. Frostwhisper has only one master: me. She never chats with outsiders. And Frostwhisper would never lie to me. That trust rises from the soul, a bond like ice under mountain stone.

So, the other side must be lying. The thought rippled like shadow on water.

"Miss, if you’re thinking of stealing my Frostwhisper, then we can only fight...!" Try to take her from me? Over my dead body.

"Wait. I don’t want to fight now. Let’s talk." [Merfolk]

"She says she doesn’t want to fight, and she wants to talk."

"Huh? A breath ago you looked ready to kill me. Now you want a nice chat? What, you plan to seduce my Frostwhisper..."

"And you can’t beat me." [Merfolk]

"And you can’t beat her."

"..."