How About a Warm Hot Spring?
"Uwohhhh!!! Where on earth is the elf lady?!!!"
Inside the quiet mixed bath, the excited roar of a twenty-nine-year-old muscular climber echoed loudly!
His name was Brawny Kang, and his class was Berserker.
Only a few days ago, he had challenged the trial of the 2nd floor, only to be blown to bits by a bomb rabbit and resurrected!
Though he usually flaunted his wild charm by showing off his rock-hard abs, surprisingly...
He was a virgin who hadn't even held a girl's hand yet!
Furthermore, rumor had it that if he maintained this state until he turned thirty, he could advance to the legendary special class, Sage!
The problem was that he had already committed to the warrior path! The advancement condition for Sage was completely useless to him!
For someone who desperately wanted to graduate from virginity as soon as possible, meeting the conditions for Sage felt like God mocking him, declaring he would never get a girlfriend for the rest of his life!
While living such a painful (?) life, Brawny Kang recalled a rumor he had overheard at a gukbap restaurant.
Believing this incredible, top-tier intel, Brawny Kang rushed into the mixed bath today at exactly 6:00 PM!
Though he had failed at dating humans, he entered the mixed bath with a sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, he could hit it off with an otherworldly elf lady—!
"No... elves...?"
Inside the mixed bath... let alone a gorgeous elf lady... there wasn't even a shadow of a human soul...!
The mixed bath was so completely empty that anyone would have believed him if he claimed he had rented out the entire place!
"Urgh... Did I come too early...?"
Brawny Kang was deeply disappointed, but it was too early to give up.
The current time was 6:00 PM... There was no guarantee that the elf always bathed at exactly 6:00 PM, right?
So, he decided to wait while leisurely enjoying the hot spring.
"Ah... This hot spring is seriously amazing..."
Though his original purpose had gone slightly awry, the quality of the hot spring was undeniably premium.
He had only been soaking for a little while, but the blemishes and dead skin on his body were already starting to vanish.
"My skin is already getting this clean... At this rate, I might actually stand a chance with the elf lady...!"
As expected of a hot spring inside the tower, it possessed incredible efficacy.
Just then—
Splash...
Splash...
The entrance on the far side opened, and footsteps echoed.
"......!"
There was no mistake.
Those sounds were coming from the direction of the women-only entrance!
Right now... into this mixed bath! A woman had entered—!!!
"Ohhh...!! She's here... She's really here!!"
The climber, Brawny Kang, shuddered and trembled with immense excitement!
Honestly, it didn't even have to be an elf! Beastkin, demon—none of it mattered!!
As long as it was a woman!!!
Please!!! Anyone would do!!!
And so, after a wait that felt brief yet like an eternity, what appeared was—
An overwhelmingly massive chest!!!
"Ohhh—!!!"
Smooth, firm skin!
"Oh... Uh..."
But, the skin color was... green...?
"...Huh?"
Something was off.
A height that easily exceeded 2.5 meters.
A muscular, angular physique.
Deep green skin.
And two massive tusks protruding past her lower jaw, completely overshadowing her otherwise surprisingly pretty face!
She was... a female orc!!!
The female orc and Brawny Kang locked eyes.
In that instant, a spark of electricity zapped between them... followed by a sudden chill.
She scanned Brawny Kang's fully exposed body as he stood in the bath, looking him up and down, and then...
"Oh my, handsome, you are totally my type ♥"
"—Uwaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!"
Inside the mixed bath,
a man's desperate scream echoed.
Tricia had just finished enchanting and labeling over 200,000 bottles of holy water with Jiye Ju.
"Whew! This should be enough to last us for a while, right? Good job!"
Tricia turned to look at Jiye Ju and spoke with a bright smile.
However, Jiye was already slumped in her chair, completely white as if she had burned herself out to pure ash.
"I've burned... completely white..."
Seeing Jiye like that, Tricia approached her with an apologetic expression...
"Should I cast some more buffs on you?"
"Agh!! No! I hate it! Don't do it!!!"
"What do you mean? You've got plenty of energy."
Though she did her job well when pushed, Jiye Ju usually whined like this.
Of course, Tricia knew exactly how to handle her.
"Anyway, we're really done, right? Then I'm clocking out!!!"
With those final words, Jiye Ju dashed toward the warp point and immediately teleported to the 52nd floor.
Letting out a soft sigh, Tricia muttered to herself.
"Whew... Today was busier than usual. Maybe I should soak in the hot spring for the first time in a while?"
Normally, she would have just washed up in her private bath on the 100th floor, but today she felt like soaking in the warm carbonated hot spring.
While her physical body was always kept in peak condition, her mind was naturally growing weary.
Managing the tower, gathering Tower Coins, dealing with tariffs in response to the government's actions, and resolving the endless stream of other issues had kept her days incredibly hectic lately...
In a way, it was only natural for her to feel exhausted.
"Alright, off to the hot spring!"
Tricia immediately warped to the 37th floor, received her bath amenities from the counter, and stepped inside.
"Come to think of it, will there be any male climbers if I go into the mixed bath now? It'd be fun to run into some~"
As usual, Tricia made idle chatter as she walked inside.
An outdoor hot spring with fizzy, popping carbonated bubbles came into view.
Although the space had expanded significantly after her house was classified as a tower, the hot spring facility itself was exactly as Tricia remembered it.
"But why is there no one here?"
Normally, various races like elves, beastkin, dwarves, and demons would be enjoying their bath together, but today was unusually quiet.
"Well, there were those climbers who stayed in the mixed bath all day just to bathe with an elf..."
It seemed the residents were avoiding the mixed bath for the time being and only using the gender-segregated ones.
Once all the women moved to the female bath, the men had no reason to stay in the mixed bath either and migrated to the male bath.
Thanks to that, Tricia, now able to enjoy a quiet soak, stepped into a private tub with a great view.
"Ah, this is the life..."
The carbonated water, at a perfect temperature that was neither too hot nor too cold, enveloped her body.
After a few minutes, the water in the tub began to glow faintly as it transformed into holy water.
Tricia's tub was filled to the brim with carbonated holy water.
"Ah... Even my soul is being healed..."
The combined effects of the carbonated spring water and the holy water greatly amplified the whitening effect, making Tricia's skin look so fair and radiant it practically glowed.
After enjoying her bath for about fifteen minutes, just as she was about to move to the cold bath—
Creak!
The door to the "multi-purpose sleeping room" in the corner of the mixed bath swung open, and someone emerged.
"Hah, pant... Now is my only chance...! I have to escape...!!"
It was a naked male climber, crawling out on all fours!
"Oh, a climber?"
When Tricia looked down and spoke with an intrigued expression, the climber suddenly froze.
"...A-A woman?"
For a moment, the climber Brawny Kang doubted his own ears.
A heavenly voice, like that of a goddess descended from the skies.
For some reason, he felt a divine aura radiating from her surroundings.
Gulping with immense anticipation, Brawny Kang slowly raised his head.
Before his eyes stood a pure white angel, wearing absolutely nothing.
"...?"
But soon, his expression stiffened slightly.
Why was that?
Was it because she wasn't the gorgeous elf lady he had hoped for? No.
Was it because he actually had a preference for this kind of look? Definitely not.
Tricia smiled and spoke.
"Sorry if you were expecting a woman."
"...???"
Here lay the shocking truth...!
Tricia was, in fact... genderless.
She was only referred to as female for convenience because of her outward appearance, but in reality, she had no gender at all!
He stared at Tricia for a long time before slowly opening his mouth.
"Uh... Excuse me... Angel...? Are you a woman... no... a man... no..."
Because he hadn't paid close attention to the advertisements broadcasted by the tower, Brawny Kang had no idea that Tricia was the tower's administrator.
On top of that, he couldn't figure out Tricia's gender for the life of him!
"As you can see, I'm genderless."
Tricia looked at the climber, proudly declaring her genderless nature.
From Tricia's perspective, she didn't really care if the fact that she was genderless became public knowledge. Besides, even if a common climber like him tried to claim such a thing, it would quickly be buried without any concrete evidence.
"G-Genderless...?"
The climber trembled violently, seemingly shocked by the word "genderless."
Just as Tricia was about to offer some basic healing, wondering if something was physically wrong with him—
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Grab!
"Honey~ ♥ Where do you think you're running off to~?"
"Agaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!"
A massive female orc appeared, scooped him up, and vanished right back into the sleeping room!
"Save me!!!!!!!!!!"
As Brawny Kang was dragged away by the female orc, he screamed desperately and reached his hand out toward Tricia, but...
Tricia simply gave him a light wave and said,
"...I wish you two a beautiful romance!"
Ah, love truly is a beautiful thing.