Will I Ultimately Become a Capitalist Tycoon?

Sheep Talisman.

The most useless of the Twelve Talismans.

Its ability is astral projection and dream-sending.

If there's anything impressive about it, it's probably using the spirit form to patrol and peek at beautiful girls bathing.

But then, another thing—

[Oh my god!! This is a Shadowkhan mask!!]

[Grab it quickly! From now on, you'll have a labor force that surpasses Naruto's!!]

The Surplus Value Prompt Device was screaming.

Chapter 12: Time to Interrogate the Ruined King

Shadowkhan mask.

One of the magic items from Jackie Chan Adventures.

There are ten in total.

The ten masks have the power to summon an endless Shadowkhan Army, while also turning the wearer into a demon and enhancing their physical abilities.

Enhanced physical abilities aren't anything new.

But the Shadowkhan Army is an incredibly useful servant.

—The Shadowkhan soldiers can turn into shadows and freely move through any ground or wall. They move silently in the shadow realm, with agile skills and martial arts. They can also shape shadows into weapons. Since they are made of shadow, they never need to eat or sleep.

The mask Valmont sent was the Nijia Mask, corresponding to the Ninja Army.

Going by the plot, shouldn't this thing be in the Ruined King's palace in Hong Kong?

How did Valmont get his hands on it?

Russell's thoughts were a bit scattered.

[Don't worry about those details. Now you need to think about how to gain control of the Ninja Army through this mask.]

The Prompt Device's words pulled Russell's mind back to reality.

Let me think... how did the Ruined King control the Shadowkhan Army?

It was through a chant, right?

But he didn't know it.

Russell fell into deep thought. When it came to mysticism, he couldn't claim to know the past and present; he was basically a complete novice.

[Then you need to interrogate the Ruined King quickly!!]

[That old dragon needs to drop his gold coins!!]

Well said.

But how do you interrogate a demon that's already turned into a statue?

Russell fell into thought again.

"Boom—"

The petite girl was using the Dragon Talisman to blast apart the massive rocks in the mine.

"Huihui, I want to ask—how do you Crimson Demon Tribe members interrogate demons?"

Russell walked up to her and asked.

The Crimson Demon Tribe.

A clan of lunatics.

They were once considered the mortal enemy of the Demon King. Even the gods, upon hearing about them, would feel a headache as if possessed by the Ruined King.

"Ah... what do you mean by interrogate?"

Huihui didn't like hearing that.

She put down the talisman, hands on her hips, brows furrowed, as if defending her tribe's honor.

"Our tribe never does that kind of thing. Interacting with demons is limited to occasionally summoning them to try and sign a master-servant contract, testing some herbs on them, or doing experiments!"

Russell was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with joy.

The Crimson Demon Tribe really excelled at being inhumane. No wonder the Demon King always looked like he wanted to slaughter their entire tribe and scatter their ashes.

"Yes, yes, yes! That's exactly what I wanted to ask!"

"..."

Huihui's moist eyes widened slightly.

She thought it over, realizing a small problem, then quickly put on a stern face and picked up the talisman to get back to work.

This topic couldn't go any deeper.

If it did, the Crimson Demon Tribe's already terrible reputation would probably dig itself dozens of meters below the foundation.

"Ahem, we can talk about a raise, my dear Huihui."

Seeming to sense that Huihui wasn't keen on acknowledging him, the boy let out a light cough.

The girl's eyes lit up in an instant.

"Ahem, boss, what do you need?"

A quick smile spread across her delicate face, her little fangs peeking out, utterly adorable.

"I need to know how to command the Shadowkhan General's legion under this mask without actually wearing it."

Russell picked up a mask and placed it in front of Huihui.

"Extracting the magic from a demon seal? Hmm, that sounds pretty tough."

"But if it's just about tricking this demon's subordinates into misjudging things, that's actually quite simple."

"Well, just carry this mask on you, along with an Aura-Sharing Magic Tool."

Huihui studied the mask for a moment, pondered, and then said this.

"Huh?"

Russell was stunned.

Huihui actually knew how to utilize the Shadow Legion?

What the hell?!

Wasn't she just a one-shot turret doubling as a Dragon Talisman amplifier?

"What's with that look?!"

Sensing Russell's gaze, Huihui bristled instantly.

"I'm the top student from the Crimson Demon Village!"

Among a clan of great mages where everyone was a hero candidate, being number one meant Huihui had real weight.

It was just that her brain had a screw loose, dumping all her magic into Explosion Magic.

If her head were even half normal, her life would've turned into a badass heroine adventure.

"Ahem... I'm just realizing you might be smarter than I thought."

Russell cleared his throat lightly and said.

"I've always been a genius."

Huihui puffed out her chest, then poked at the mask beside her.

"An item that shares an aura with this Demon Mask... hmm, making something on that level, my dad could do it."

A polite yet awkward expression immediately crept onto Russell's face.

Hyosaburo.

Huihui's father, whose magic power was quite strong even among the Crimson Demon Tribe, but his constant inventions of bizarre magical tools kept the family poor and often left them without solid food for three days straight.

Even in the Crimson Demon Village, a place full of nutjobs, he was called a weirdo.

Was it really okay to have that birdbrain make the tools?

As if sensing the shift in Russell's expression, Huihui couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.

Ah...

She'd almost forgotten Russell was a prophet with something like future sight.

Her old man's idiot nature was completely impossible to hide.

"...Dad's a useless deadbeat, but if Mom's around, he'll hold back his creative urges."

Huihui wiped cold sweat from her brow and quickly added.

"Mm, honestly, quality doesn't matter much—it's for you to use anyway."

Russell looked at Huihui, who didn't even seem convinced herself, and said with a smile.

"We're all company executives here. Executives do the grunt work early on, but later on, they get others to do the labor. Yeah, the Shadowkhan Army is your labor force."

"I'm not on the front lines of the construction site anyway. The Shadowkhan mask will probably be with you or Naruto."

Ah!!!

Huihui's eyes went wide.

If that old man messed things up, wouldn't she be the first to suffer?

"I'll definitely keep an eye on Dad together with Mom!"

Huihui seemed to ignite with determination.

Mm, good, plenty of spirit.

Russell nodded in satisfaction.

"Then I'll leave making the tool to control the Shadow Legion to you."

Following the ancient sages' principle of using something until it breaks, even to death, Russell solemnly placed both hands on Huihui's shoulders.

"Mmph..."

Huihui wiped the sweat from her brow.

This task had to be done flawlessly, or she might be finished.

Then, as if remembering something else, he transferred the red envelope Valmont had given him over to Huihui.

"Even though you can already provide me with tools to control the Shadow Clone Army, I'm still leaving Shendu to you."

"I want you to take him back to your hometown and give him a thorough interrogation... a good talk, make him spit out all the summoning incantations he knows, preferably every curse he's got."

In theory, Huihui could already handle the Shadow Clone Army issue.

But that old bastard Shendu should still have plenty of oil to squeeze out.

Just because he had some gold coins in hand didn't mean he could stop squeezing Shendu dry.

The gold still had to burst out.

"That old bastard Shendu looks pretty stylish; maybe he could earn you some extra cash as an exhibit in your village?"

"Great!!"

Hearing about extra cash, Huihui perked up.

Russell watched Huihui return to her own world, but when he turned around, he saw the mine that hadn't fully exploded yet and the Dragon Talisman Huihui had left on the table before leaving...

How was he supposed to handle this job?

Russell fell into thought, then looked toward Naruto in the distance.

Time to make Naruto suffer a bit more.