Sui Xiong's answer had not been beyond the expectations of Singer, the Lionman God—or rather, it had not been beyond the expectations of Wilde, the Foxman chieftain.
Before setting out on this diplomatic mission, Wilde had held a lengthy discussion with Singer. He had carefully analyzed the laws of the Northwest Republic and the doctrines of Void Mask, then pointed out that the greatest obstacle to the mission's success was the Orc Pantheon's attitude toward faith, as well as the Orc Empire's religious policies.
"If possible, the best solution would be for Your Majesties to change your attitude and for the nation to change its policies," he had said at the time.
However, Singer had rejected his suggestion.
"The foundation of the Orc Pantheon lies in bloodlines, in the purity of souls bound together," Singer had said. "Without that, we would no longer be ourselves. When that time came, what difference would there be between existence and destruction?"
Wilde had earnestly begged him to seek the counsel of the great chief god of the orcs. Unable to withstand his repeated pleas, Singer had ultimately consulted Lefeng.
Lefeng had answered firmly, "If we lose this war, then at worst we can follow the gnomes' example and leave the main plane. The world is vast; there will always be a place for us orcs to live. But if we abandon the foundation of blood-linked souls, then we will have lost the roots of the orc race. Even if we remain on the main plane, we would be nothing more than duckweed adrift without roots!"
Faced with such an unwavering answer, Wilde had no way forward. He could only dance in shackles, racking his brains over how to persuade Void Mask on that basis.
To that end, he had prepared several different arguments,