The Queen of Scrolls never admits defeat

Chapter 550 The Escaped Ice Cream

Moran: "..."

Wow, it can really run fast!
"Ready? Here I go!" Moran, holding a seashell spoon, was just as ready as the others.

"Let's go!" Rose, Lina, and Dora were all ready.

Moran lifted the cover, revealing eight colorful scoops of ice cream inside.

The moment the dishcloth was removed, the ice cream scoop bounced out of the bowl like a kicked ball, flying in all directions.

Moran aimed at a scoop of ice cream and scooped it over with a spoon.

Once the shell-shaped spoon touched the ice cream ball, it immediately became obedient, and Moran then scooped up other ice cream around it.

Rose, Lina, and Dora acted quickly as well.

Working together, the four of them quickly got eight scoops of ice cream back into the ice cream bowl.

Moran breathed a sigh of relief; finally, she could eat.

She chose a scoop of ice cream, took a small spoonful, and just as she put it in her mouth, the ice cream scoop disappeared.

Moran had no choice but to chase after it and scoop it up; every time she scooped, it would behave for a moment.

But before you can scoop it up a second time, it will run away at any time. Sometimes it's right after you've finished eating, and sometimes it's before you've even put it in your mouth.

You can only eat while chasing after it to scoop it up.

If Moran isn't careful, it will run around and come back into the bowl on its own, and it will immediately melt into a ball of rainbow-colored syrup and be poured over the other scoops of ice cream.

“Rainbow syrup with ice cream is pretty good too!” Rose comforted her. “We often eat one and let the other go.”

Eating a bowl of ice cream felt like playing a thrilling game of catching a ball.

"How was it? Wasn't it really interesting?" Dora said with a smile.

"It's quite interesting." Moran was glad that none of the other dishes she ordered today had the word "escape" in them, otherwise it would have been difficult to even get a bite.

She took a sip of the bubble coral to calm her nerves.

Colorful bubbles rose from the cup, and with a gentle touch of her finger, they transformed into a tiny daisy.

But when she caught it in her palm, the daisy turned into a drop of water.

After Moran confirmed with Rose and the others that the other meals weren't as "active" as the escaped ice cream, they removed all the meal covers.

The seafood barbecue and fried food platter served inside a dilapidated wooden ship model immediately caught her attention: "This is the shipwreck treasure platter? It smells so good!"

Compared to alcoholic beverages and desserts, she definitely preferred this kind of hot and fragrant food.

However, Moran looked at the roll of parchment tied with a red ribbon on the mast of the dilapidated wooden boat and asked curiously, "What is this?"

"This is the surprise treasure in the shipwreck treasure platter—a treasure map!" Dora said.

"A treasure map?" Moran wasn't surprised. This dish cost 100 gold coins, which was expensive, but not enough to actually yield a powerful treasure map. Otherwise, why would Aquina run this shop to make money? She might as well just go dig for treasure.

"What exactly is this treasure?"

“Anything is possible. The ultimate prize is a real, undiscovered shipwreck treasure,” Rose said. Moran was all too familiar with this tactic; her card-based gacha pool also had an ultimate prize: “Have you ever had this dish before? What did you find on the treasure map?”

Rose's expression was somewhat subtle: "The first time we ordered this dish, we found a box of soaked letters hidden in a crevice of the reef using a treasure map. It must have been a love letter from a sailor to his lover. The handwriting was so blurry that we could only barely make out the repeated phrase 'Don't wait for me.'"

Dora continued, "The second time, we found a treasure chest covered with seashells. There was nothing inside, but on the bottom it said in small print, 'Congratulations on finding the essence of the sea.' At first, we didn't understand what the essence of the sea was, so we asked Equina, and she told us that the essence of the sea is seawater. When we opened the chest, it was indeed full of seawater."

Moran: "..."

She could imagine how devastated Rose and the others must have been.

"To be honest, after finding the 'essence of the sea,' none of us wanted to order that dish again, but the shipwreck treasure platter was really delicious..." Lina said.

"So you ordered it a third time, right?" Moran asked.

Lina nodded: "The third time, we barely found something of slightly value."

“But it’s also a little disgusting,” Rose said.

"What is it?" Moran asked curiously.

"Pirate's dentures, a magical item inlaid with rubies, that can play recorded pirate swear words when biting," Dora said.

Moran: "..."

What kind of bizarre treasures are these?
"Actually, we're doing alright. The luck spell did work a little. I heard that someone found a cursed gold coin, and after taking it, he was chased ashore by a group of persistent crabs. Even after that, the chase didn't stop. As soon as he lingered on the beach, crabs would come after him. He had no choice but to go to Ms. Aquinas. As a result, Ms. Aquinas said that the gold coin was the retirement fund of the crab leader, and after it was taken, he sent his men to retrieve it."

In the end, the man had no choice but to return the cursed coins.

Rose couldn't help but laugh as she said this: "Compared to this person, what we found is actually quite good."

After hearing this, Moran could only sigh, "It's really not easy for the Mermaid Tavern to still be operating well!"

If this were on Earth, it would have been shut down long ago due to complaints.

At this moment, the treasure map on the sunken treasure platter on their table seemed especially hot to handle.

"Senior, you should give it a try. Although no one has found the shipwreck treasure yet, Aquinas assured me that she really did put a treasure map of the shipwreck treasure inside, but it was mixed in with other treasure maps, and she doesn't know which one it is anymore," Dora said.

Moran first cast a luck spell on herself, then used a cleansing spell to wash her hands before uncovering the red ribbon tied with the treasure map.

Upon opening it, I found it to be a map coordinate system.

"It looks like it's in the sea?" Moran looked at the map with a puzzled expression.

“All the treasure maps lead to treasures in the sea,” Rose said. “If you don’t have a water-repelling gem, you can hire a mermaid from the tavern as a bodyguard when it’s closed during the day. She can wrap you in bubbles and take you to the bottom of the sea to find the treasure.”

Moran quickly said, "I have a water-repelling gem. According to the map coordinates, it's not too far. I'm planning to go look for it tomorrow. Do you want to come along?"

"No, we have a lot of deliveries to make tomorrow!" Rose said. "But please tell us what it is once you find it!"

"Yes!" They were all extremely curious.

“Okay.” Moran put away the treasure map, picked up a skewer of seafood barbecue, and after just one bite, she understood why Rose and the others could order such expensive dishes three times in a row, even though they always found junk.

It's really delicious!