Approach the queen.

While you've done this before, the great hall you're in now is much larger and more illustrious than the last. It leads down a lush red carpet to a throne at the end, and the room is filled with guards. Upon the throne is the same Queen Catherine II you spoke to previously--garbed still in a gold circlet inlaid with gems, thread through her raven black hair, which curls down her bare shoulders. The dress she wears is the same as well, which leads down to her crimson heels. It's cut up the side to her thigh, and her fingers are covered in jewellery. She has painted red nails, which match her lips as well, and the necklace of the ruby wolf head still hangs between her cleavage.

The court wizard takes a place beside her. Meanwhile, your party is awkwardly left unknowing what to do. Starting with Amara, you kneel one by one. It seems like the right thing to do, and is what happened last time as well. Delphi doesn't, however. She just sits on your head.

"Kyle Warren." The queen speaks. "I didn't expect to see you here, and with such news. You all may stand."

You and your party listen.

"Pull it out and bring it to me," the queen demands.

The horn is presumably what she means. You hold it up and step cautiously up to the throne, and hand it over to her. She takes it and looks it over with interest, and then turns her gaze to the man beside her.

"Dezro tells me this may actually belong to Mistress Dajy. After our last meeting, I'm inclined to believe you. Your party seems to be quite impressive. Though a horn alone isn't flawless proof, I will accept it, and I believe granting you Dragonhide Manor was the correct decision after all. You've made my empire safer yet again."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." You bow.

She smiles and crosses one leg over the other, and with the cut up her dress, it shows a little more than you'd expect to see from a queen. You can't help but look to her thigh, but quickly move your eyes back to hers. Will I be hanged for treason if I look back down?

"I wish to reward you, but a fortune for a mere horn seems inappropriate to me. You're adventurers, correct? Then I believe I may have something. Dezro, please fetch for me the quest we've been speaking about."

"Are you sure, Your Majesty? They're--"

"Now."

"Y-Yes. Of course." He hurries out of the room through a door to your left.

The queen crosses her leg back over the other way, putting your mind a bit more at ease. Shortly, the court wizard returns with a scroll, and he hands it over to her. She unravels it and begins scanning her eyes up and down the paper before finally looking back to you.

"There has been an issue within the city. Elite guards were going to be tasked to check it out, though we considered posting in the Adventurer's Guild instead. The details of such a posting were under review. However, this may be the perfect gift for the likes of you. Your party is strong and capable enough to combat a high succubus and her minions. Therefore, you should be able to handle something like this, unless you're lying of course."

"The reward is more work?" Delphi calls out.

"Hey! Adventures are cool," Niki snaps back.

The court wizard furls is brow. "Quiet!"

Queen Catherine rolls the paper back up. "This is a royal quest. Do you honestly believe the reward will be small?"

"Of course not," you say. "Don't mind them. You said it was within the city as well? That's even better."

"Indeed." She hands the scroll out for you to grab.

You take it and begin to read, though she explains aloud as well.

"There rests a home in the eastern side of the city that once belonged to a mage, though not just any," she says. "He was absolutely mad. Not only that, but he excelled at magical engineering. In the basement of said home, a secret door was found, and the danger level is unknown. There may be traps, or perhaps even worse. One of his creations was an iron golem that caused much destruction. Such a thing may not exist down there now, but if it does... it must be destroyed. You may not take anything you find without explicit permission because of this. However, you will be gifted a base reward of four hundred gold pieces, as well as being known as a party that aided the royal family."

You turn to your party. "Well, what do you say? I know you're not really part of the crew, RF, but feel free to come if you want."

"I would be honoured," she replies.

"This could be fun," Delphi says. "I've never done something like this before."

I didn't put up much of a fight this time. I guess it's because she's the queen. Either that, or I'm actually starting to get used to this chaos... I need to be more careful. This place sounds dangerous as hell, and we only survived the last fight out of pure luck. If we run into an iron golem down there, we're out!