Their shoulders and backs are exposed, and the shapes of their cleavage (if present) and hips are unconcealed. They wear tights that Master has made, so their skin isn't exposed, but they cling tightly to their bottoms and legs. Does this not actually make them more indecent?

And most bizarre things of all are the hairbands with decorations that look exactly like rabbit ears and decorations that look like rabbit tails, attached just above the bottom.

"I do not know the details, but it seems that female employees in casinos on Earth, the world where Master once lived, dressed in this way," I said.

"Are you serious? Earth is a world with only humans, right? It's not like they could have been obsessed with rabbit-type Beast-people," said Borkus.

"It seems that even Master does not know why they are rabbits, but... there are apparently some regions of Earth that consider rabbits to be a symbol of good fortune, so perhaps that has something to do with it?" I suggested. "Also, it is likely a form of service to the male customers."

"Huh, I see. Well, they're sexy so I don't hate it, but... what happens if we get workers who are Beast-people other than rabbit-type?" Borkus asked.

He was concerned that it would be unsightly for Beast-people of other races who already possess their own ears and tails to dress as bunny girls.

"Who knows? Perhaps they would simply become fox girls, wolf girls and panther girls," I suggested with a bitter smile.

I gave a rather vague answer since I was not particularly interested in this topic, but Borkus seemed to be satisfied with this explanation. A convinced expression appeared on the remaining half of his face.

"I see. It's true that we don't have to limit ourselves to bunnies like Earth," he said.

Not that I think that Earth limits itself to bunnies, either.

Incidentally, I spotted Master sitting at a table with a plate reading "VIP seat" soon after this, so I tried asking him about bunny girls once more, but the answer I received was the exact answer I had expected.

"I don't know the exact reason or how they originated, but it seems that casinos have bunny girls."

Somehow, my master's desires for worldly luxuries... or rather, what seem like worldly luxuries, is so strong that he has gone full circle and become unworldly.

I began questioning his sanity when I heard that he had once tried and failed to take a bath in a tub filled with gold nuggets.

Even now, he was stacking golden chips into a mountain on the table, surrounded by Zadiris, Basdia and Eleanora who were serving him in bunny girl suits.

"By the way, Master, did you win in your gambling?" I asked.

"... I was utterly beaten," Master replied, collapsing forward onto the table.

It seems that Master is not very good at board games and gambling.

"Do not ask questions to tease him. I am sure you can tell by looking that the chips in this pile are toys made of fool's gold," said Zadiris.

Incidentally, fool's gold is a metal known as false gold, and it produces sparks when two pieces are struck together, so they are sometimes used as flint sparks. That is how worthless the metal is. In other words, Master is just acting.

Furthermore, the plate that reads "VIP seat" is also something that Master created and placed on the table himself.

"Vandalieu-sama, I've been thinking this for a long time, but I think you should educate this insolent apprentice of yours," said Eleanora.

"Luciliano is my advisor as well as my apprentice, so it's perfect that he's a little insolent," Master said. Thankfully, it seemed that he did not intend to follow Eleanora's fearsome suggestion.

"Spare me. I would certainly not wish to end up like those former fake resistance people," I said.

The last time I saw them, Haj and the other fake resistance members had become berserkers who licked their weapons with maddened looks in their eyes. Their Jobs are apparently also Berserker, making them equivalent to D-class adventurers at least in attack power.

"I have to question that, too. They probably won't live long at this rate," said Basdia, whose spectacular chest, latissimus dorsi and feminine legs were barely concealed by her bunny girl suit.

It seemed that she thought this would be problematic as well.

Master contemplated for a short while before suddenly raising his face to speak. "Well then, let's supply them with dependable partners so that they can live long."

"Partners?" I repeated.

Did he intend to have them work in pairs? But then, what did he mean by "supply?"

"I will provide them with Living Armors that will act as their partners, not as their instructors," Master said.

"I see. That would give them high-performance armor as well, so it's killing two birds with one stone," said Basdia. "And even if the enemy were to try to steal them, they would just run away on their own unless they were actually defeated."

"How wonderful. As expected of you, Master," I said.

Could Haj and his companions continue taming Undead that have been separated from Master for a long period of time?

What happens to Undead that are separated from Master for a long period of time?

Interested in the results of this experiment, I, like Basdia, agreed with Master's suggestion.

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There are certain skills that the Mages' Guild considers Undead to have none, or very little of. These are creative, artistic and imaginative abilities, and sensitivity to emotion.

This has been concluded from the testimonies of adventurers who have fought Undead for many years and examining the remains of mages who have become Undead, and it is a believable theory to some extent.

From deciphering the records of research left behind by mages who turned themselves into Undead while they were still alive for the purpose of this research, it is very clear that their creative and imaginative abilities degrade over time.

The works said to be created by artists who have become Undead are either extensions of works they created while they were alive or mere scribbles.

I took this knowledge for granted, but intriguingly, there are Undead in Talosheim who engage in this kind of creative work.

These include Datara and Nuaza, who are Undead Titans. This does not need to be explained in the case of Datara, who swings his hammer at the forge. But as for Nuaza, in addition to being the leader of the Church of Vida, he also carves stone statues of Master and of the gods.

The two fields that they are working in are different, but both are Undead who perform creative work.

I asked them questions regarding the above-mentioned theory, but I received an unexpected answer.

"That's probably not wrong," said Datara.

"I think it is correct as well," said Nuaza.

I had firmly believed that the two of them would reject the commonly-accepted theory, but surprisingly, they agreed with it.

"What in the world makes you feel this way?" I asked them. "In my eyes, it seems to me that the two of you are conducting work no differently from the living."

"You see, that's just because you're watching us work from the side. I'm just managing by listening to advice from Tarea-jouchan and the other newcomers."

According to the blacksmith Datara who creates arms using the new materials brought in by Master and the others, he is simply using techniques that he cultivated in the past; it seems that he does not need to use his brain very much.

"Unlike you, I don't have any education so I can't say anything for sure, but creative power is, you know, coming up with new ideas, right? I'm bad at that. When things don't go well with the way I've been doing things up until now, I have to consult others," he confessed.

Despite being a pale-faced, stubborn-looking old man, he is surprisingly flexible and listens to the suggestions of others.

Nuaza gave a large nod of agreement. "I do not use my head very much while carving statues, either. I am simply carving things as they appear to me."

"Indeed, the stone statues of Master have not had any glorifications added to them; they resemble him so closely that one would not notice he were there if he were to stand next to them," I said.

Master really does blend in with them from time to time. Particularly after he acquired the Demon King's ink sacs, he has been camouflaging himself by covering himself in stone-colored ink, so it is difficult to tell unless one approaches him.

... I wonder if it is really alright to use a fragment of the Demon King for such a prank. What would the Demon King think if he knew that a part of his own body was being used in this way? I suppose I will have to set aside such idle thoughts.

"But how do you carve statues of gods that you cannot directly see?" I asked.

Nuaza has even created statues of Fidirg, the Dragon God of Five Sins, and Merrebeveil, the Evil God of Slime and Tentacles who is now the heroic goddess of the Scylla. Unlike Master, he cannot directly see these gods to create statues of them.

He has carved statues of beings that he has never actually seen before. There is no mistake that this is a creative task.

"Oh no, the Holy Son has used the Golem Transmutation skill to create large models to show me what they looked like," Nuaza said.

"... I see."

"It appeared that I simply needed to carve the statues using these as a reference."

It seems that Master, who has met the gods directly, provided a model to work with.

"Well, until I died, I really was a hard-headed old man," said Datara. "My creative power might have faded more than the youngsters back then. But now, I feel like I'm young again."

"That is because you have many Ghouls like Tarea-san helping you in the female working team, isn't it? Ah, Luciliano-dono, I only began carving statues after becoming an Undead, so I do not think that my answers would be of much use to you," Nuaza added.

It seems that the commonly-accepted theory cannot be affirmed or refuted just by listening to the views of these two.

I must be diligent in gathering more testimonies.

TLN: as she appears in this chapter - a fan art drawn by the official artist of the novel. NSFW.

This chapter was very difficult to translate and seeing as the next one is the "lower section" of Luciliano's report, I don't expect it to get any easier. The next chapter is likely the last one I'll translate before leaving.

Yoshi