The Queen of Scrolls never admits defeat

Chapter 556 Golden Comb Salad
Moran rode his broom and left the seaside where he had lived for several years, flying south along the coastline.

With Aquinas's words still ringing in his ears, Moran thought for a moment, then switched his broom to its flying carpet form, activated his card magic, and searched for the food cards that Aquinas had uploaded.

Besides the food cards, such as the shipwreck treasure platter, which she was very familiar with, there were also several food cards containing dishes that Moran had never seen before.

The card only briefly describes whether it's sweet or savory, and regarding the food's effects, there's only a short sentence at the end: "It comes with a certain surprise effect; you can read the effect details after eating it."

Then there was a line of text obscured by a mosaic.

Unable to see any effect, she had no choice but to select two cards that interested her based on their names and images and materialize them.

A mermaid comb branch sprinkled with edible gold powder is stuck in a suspicious clump of transparent seaweed whose true nature is unknown.

On the tiny ghost boats made of rice, drizzled with a deep purple sauce, steam billows out from the cheese slices like sails.

One of them is called {Mermaid's Golden Comb Salad}, and the other is called {Ghost Ship Curry Rice}.

Moran had just left a beach full of mermaid combs and was on her way to find the ghost ship; these two dishes were perfect for her current situation.

She first pulled out the mermaid comb branch sprinkled with gold powder.

She had lived by the mermaid comb bush for several years and never imagined that the mermaid comb could be used as food.

After all, it's a branch that mermaids use to comb their hair; its hardness makes it completely unsuitable for eating.

However, the card does say "You can eat any of the food on the plate".

I took a small bite, and the taste was surprisingly good.

It seems to have been processed; the branches of the mermaid comb have been hollowed out, leaving only a two-millimeter-thick outer skin that is very crispy and crumbles with a bite. It also has a slightly salty taste, and the edible gold powder sprinkled on top has a faint, refreshing flavor. Together, they taste like cucumber-flavored potato chips.

This made Moran have high expectations for the seaweed in the bowl.

I scooped up a spoonful and fed it to my mouth.

It was sweet and tender, without the dryness of vegetables or the juiciness of fruit, but very refreshing. Before she knew it, she had eaten more than half a bowl.

Just as she was wondering where the "surprise" in this dish was, she suddenly noticed that the squeak and crackle in front of her were acting strangely.

They all tilted their heads back, looking at her...head?

Moran touched her mind and found nothing unusual, so she cast another Water Mirror spell.

In the mirror, her hair shone with a dazzling light, as if she were wearing a giant light bulb, making it almost impossible to look directly at her.

"This is... a surprise?" Moran gritted his teeth and uttered the last two words.

She took out the cards to look at.

After the card {Mermaid's Golden Comb Salad} materialized, it left an empty card, and the last mosaic text became clear: "After eating it, your hair will be smooth and shiny all day long."

She noticed it was shiny, smooth?

Moran touched her hair, and then touched it again. It was so smooth! So soft to the touch!
She really liked the feel of it, but she really didn't want to have a huge light bulb hanging over her head! Especially a purple one.

She took out the communication card and asked Aquinas about it.

[Aquinas: There's nothing I can do!]

Moran had serious doubts about whether this thing could actually be sold in the tavern.

Helpless, she could only wave her hand and shatter the water mirror, out of sight, out of mind. [Moran: What special effects does the Ghost Ship Curry Rice have? It won't just be a surprise without any joy, will it?]

[Aquinas: There's a very special chili pepper captain on the ghost ship; eating it grants you a day's worth of underwater breathing ability.]

Moran breathed a sigh of relief; at least it wasn't some weird effect like her hair turning shiny.

After speaking with Aquinas, Moran kindly told the other witches about Aquinas releasing new food cards and specially recommended the dish "Mermaid's Golden Comb Salad".

After finishing the ghost ship curry rice, the flying carpet flew to the location marked on the treasure map of the second sunken treasure platter she had eaten.

Still able to breathe underwater thanks to the Ghost Ship Curry Rice, she jumped directly into the sea. Half an hour later, she pulled out a starfish stamp from a rocky cave on the seabed marked with the Mermaid Tavern logo.

When you put it on your arm, a "legitimate pirate" mark appears.

Moran couldn't see what use it was, so he asked Aquinas again using the {communication card}.

[Aquinas: It can stamp the "legitimate pirate" mark! Let me think...]

[Aquinas: I remember now! It was a reward from the teachers at the underwater mermaid kindergarten for good little mermaids. I traded a piece of candy from land for a little mermaid—it was her treasure.]

Moran: ...

So this is the treasure! I wasted another half hour of her time!
Sure enough, she was incredibly lucky to get the ticket to the ghost ship from the sunken treasure platter; such good fortune doesn't come every time.

Moran tossed the stamp into a corner of the space card and continued flying toward the abandoned dock at the pearl shell farm.

The timing was perfect; we arrived just as it got dark.

Moran rolled up the flying carpet, stood on the only intact template on the dock, and took out the rusty key.

Even late at night, she didn't need to use any light spells for illumination; her hair was simply frighteningly shiny.

Her only worry now is that her hair is so shiny that the ghost ship won't come.

If the ghost ship doesn't come, how did she get her hands on the legendary "heart of the ghost ship," which is said to be incredibly beneficial to undead creatures?
This is also one of the precious materials that the Book of Cards lacks and cannot produce.

Moran scoffed at the legends that "ghost ships contain cabins that allow the dead to reunite" and that "by taking a ticket to apply for a crew position on a ghost ship, one can easily obtain immortality."

No matter how eerie the ghost ship is, it's still just a ship carrying the curse of living beings and full of undead creatures. Even the strongest experts who can venture into other worlds can't achieve immortality without doing anything. How could the ghost ship in Valenne possibly do that?

They waited for several hours.

Just as Moran was about to lose patience, a thick fog suddenly rose from the sea, and a ship's silhouette appeared in the fog.

There wasn't a single light on the ship in the dark; something was definitely wrong.

Before even getting close, Moran could feel the intense power of death and curse surrounding it.

The boat soon stopped in front of her.

At the bow of the ship is a statue of a woman weeping, whose eyes move and whose mouth stretches to her ears. The hull is covered with a black membrane resembling whale skin, and the broken parts reveal the writhing dark red flesh inside. On the rotting sails, ever-changing blood-red runes constantly appear.

After staring at the ship for a short while, Moran felt that his mental barrier had been attacked.

At the same time, a cable covered in weeds and mud began to entangle her.

Moran, disgusted by the dirty cable, jumped onto the deck of the ghost ship himself.