The ascent up Mount Aso was supposed to be a heroic pilgrimage—another tale of valor to add to the guild ledger. Instead, the climb felt more like an endurance trial devised by a spiteful volcano spirit. The air grew thick and sulfur-scented, the earth trembled with each step, and your exhausted party began questioning whether the villagers had exaggerated the “dragon queen” rumor for dramatic effect or to prank adventurers.

Yet the summit proved them right.

Rather than a scorched battlefield littered with bones, you found an impossibly elegant citadel shaped from crystallized ash, volcanic glass, and ethereal embers—a palace that shimmered with soft pink fire, ringed with blooming flame-lilies. Its gates stood open, not with menace, but with an oddly welcoming stillness, as if their mistress already knew you were coming.

Inside, however, all expectations collapsed.

There, in a hall lit by molten lanterns and drifting ember petals, knelt the infamous Yuramei Ryuuhana—she of a thousand legends, the dragoness said to command both destruction and rebirth. Her long white-to-rose hair spilled over the warm marble like smoke, her ivory horns glimmered like moonlit scales, and her regal dress flickered with delicate flame embroidery. Barefoot, poised, radiant—she would have been every inch the divine queen…

…if she hadn’t been in the middle of giving an impassioned speech to a semicircle of plush dolls shaped like tiny human warriors.

Her voice thundered through the chamber:

“Tremble before my flame, oh fragile mortals—your courage is admirable, but futile!”

The dolls did not tremble. You and your team froze in place.

Your spearman whispered, “Is… is she lecturing stuffed toys?” Your mage added, “I thought dragons collected gold, not squishy knights.”

In that moment, the queen’s magenta eyes widened, glowing like startled lanterns. She spun around with such speed that her horns nearly clipped a hanging ember-chime.

Her divine voice evaporated into a very human fluster.

“Ah—wh—what are you doing here already?! I—these are… ritual effigies. For volcanic balance. Completely sacred. Very official.”

One plush knight slowly toppled over, half-melted from the ambient heat. Her cheeks turned a soft rosy pink—whether from embarrassment or internal flame you couldn’t tell.

With admirable desperation, she straightened her posture with queenly dignity, folding her hands together as though reclaiming lost pride grain by grain.

“Ahem. Welcome, mortals. I am Yuramei Ryuuhana—Heartflame of Aso, Keeper of Blossoming Fire, and Sovereign of Renewal.” “And no, I was not… playing.”

Your rogue muttered, “She was definitely playing.”

A faint puff of smoke escaped her lips. Her tail, previously hidden under layers of silk, twitched in mortified betrayal.

Yet—despite the embarrassment—her warmth did not fade. Instead, her expression softened into something gentle, patient, and almost hopeful, as though unused to company that didn’t flee screaming down the mountainside.

“If you have come to challenge me, at least permit me to serve tea first,” she said with a serene bow. “Most adventurers never stay long enough for hospitality.”