Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chapter 893: Vol V Chapter 253

In the end, Sui Xiong had not agreed to Singh's request immediately.

Although Singh's explanation had definitely made sense, Sui Xiong still felt that something was not right. Since his gut feeling told him that something was off, Sui Xiong definitely would not make any decision rashly.

This was not an easy decision like coming up with what to eat for dinner, but rather was a decision that involved the two biggest races on the Main Plane. Tens of thousands of peoples' welfare and happiness were at stake! This matter affected the rise and fall of the two biggest holy pedigrees in this world as well and was a severe matter of life and death for many, many people.

How could Sui Xiong make decisions easily for such a high stake matter simply because some explanations "made sense"?

If Sui Xiong was merely helping the elves or dwarves, he could be assured that he wouldn't be implicated in an overly complicated battle, if it happened at all. Even if it did, Sui Xiong also had confidence in his own abilities to manage and manipulate the scale of the battle and ensure that there wouldn't be mass killings and corpses lying around everyone. However, in this case, if he chose to help the Orcs, he could no longer make such a guarantee.

The hatred and conflict between the humans and Orcs had originated from a long time ago, and they could even be said to be mortal enemies. To stop both sides from engaging in battle would definitely be a tough thing to do!

This was the reason why Sui Xiong chose to postpone his decision-making despite Singh's pleas and earnest propositions. Sui Xiong stated that he required a bit more time to think and to allow the Republic of Northwest and the Void God System's leaders to come together and discuss the matter.

This current meeting thus came to a close temporarily, and the emissaries returned to their hotel. Sui Xiong then gathered the Republic of Northwest and the Void God System's elites to come together to discuss the matter.

"What a pity!" Wilder sighed deeply, disappointment clearly written all over his face. "Since we did not manage to convince Sui Xiong today and settle the matter, it will only get harder from now on."

Singh was silent, and his face was dark. "The Void Mask is really rather stubborn and set in his ways. We did manage to convince him, but for some reason or another, he was just unwilling to budge. Could he have suspected something was amiss?"

"That's possible. After all, he is one of the most powerful gods of all time. Towards things like fate and prophecy, he definitely has a good gut instinct for it. Even though we made careful preparations, it's not unlikely that he somehow sensed that something was amiss," Wilder replied dully with a pained expression. "With more time, he will be able to firm up his suspicions and sense towards the matter. That would mean that he would then gain a better understanding of the situation as well. Because of this, I'm worried…"

Wilder did not elaborate on what exactly he was worried about, but Singh understood his implied meaning.

"Let's not think too much now and just concentrate on our tasks at hand," after mulling over the matter for a while, Singh replied. "Even without Sui Xiong's help, we will still have to fight this battle. Although the humans have the advantage of numbers, they aren't really able to round this great number of people up easily. Gathering tens of thousands of people from all areas to one central area will definitely pose a challenge for them."

Wilder nodded and chose not to dwell on the current unfortunate situation but plan for the future instead. He had a reputation of being the smartest among his generation of Orcs, and now, it was time for him to live up to that title.

Almost at the same time, the Republic of Northwest's' higher-ups were having a discussion. Sui Xiong briefly explained the matter at hand before allowing everyone else to air their views and share their thoughts on the matter.

The first person to speak was Olian Geerteng. This famous sage was also the Church of the God of Knowledge's archbishop, and she spoke up without hesitating, "I oppose the idea of helping the Orcs. All along, the Orcs have been the main threat to peace in this world until the Eagle Kingdom and the Kingdom of Holy Angels joined forces to suppress their unacceptable actions. It's not that they chose peace. Rather, they were forced to accept peace. Now, they are still relentless in their quests. I'm sure everyone remembers the battle of Sun's Death Day, right? The Orcs were to blame for that battle!"

Keane Hill's leader, Louis Keane, nodded immediately. "That's right! The aggressive nature of the Orcs is inborn and will not change. They are only willing to negotiate because they are in an unfortunate position right now and are acting pitiful. As long as they have the opportunity, they will be crueler than any other race!"

"If the Orc Empire is defeated and the Orcs are driven out of the Main Plane, it will not be a bad thing for this world." The alliance master of the Alliance of Four Cities, one of God of Knowledge's electors, Owen Hart, spoke up as well with his own logic. "This is not about prejudice or discrimination, it's the truth. From historical events, we can see that the aggressive nature of the Orcs is too intense, evil and strong. They are the reason why there is tension on the Main Plane!"

The three consecutive views that were aired led to a majority of the world leaning towards being against the Orcs. Right at this moment, however, someone who normally did not speak up, spagirism warrior Wendy Tyrian, suddenly opened her mouth.

"It's not like humans are any less cruel than Orcs," she said. "Aren't humans the ones who have been constantly harassing the Ancient Forest?"

"Humans have also been the aggressors towards the Great Marsh and all the 'borders' of the plane," Jose continued with a cold smile. "Our Northern Iceland's barbarian tribe are also considered humans, and when they make plans to expand their territory, they could be said to be cruel and relentless as well!"

"Humans simply term their expansion as pioneering, and to them, it is a great profession of honor. As for the original residents of land that was taken over, humans label them as evil and say that they naturally needed to be exterminated." Although Necromancer Tu Ya'an was also a human, he did not join sides with the human race. "Let's not even discuss differences between races. Even if the humans were of the same race, would they be any less cruel towards each other? Look at the internal war in the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, both sides are humans, right? For money, land, power and status… humans are capable of anything! They do not really care about being good or generous…"

"Be it humans or Orcs, their nature is about the same," Giant dragon Snowflake commented lightly. "Race alone cannot really express the complexity of the situation. Other than a few specific tribes in each race that are extremely territorial and intense, the rest of the humans and Orcs are about the same. I've seen kind Orcs, selfish humans and vice versa. Being humble versus being despicable, good and evil… be it humans or Orcs, I've seen individuals who embody all parts of the spectrum. They've had multiple clashes in the past. If we solely look at race to decide who deserves help, that would be too narrow-minded and judgmental."

After Snowflake concluded her speech, Madam Teague hurried to voice her agreement. "We should look at the matter in terms of right and wrong, not simply by race."

"Be it the Republic of Northwest or the Church of the Void Mask, we've always emphasized that all races should be treated equally. This is one of the foundational values of the Republic, and we should not compromise that in this case of the battle between humans and Orcs," Master Satan smiled and spoke up. "I know everyone has their own preferences. Some may prefer the humans and hate the Orcs, some may be the exact opposite. However, I want to remind everyone that preferences aside, we must still make rational decisions with a clear head."

The entire meeting area fell silent as everyone fell into deep thought. As Sui Xiong gazed at everyone around him, he sighed internally.

It seemed as though the implied conclusion for the meeting was to make a decision without caring about race. In that case, using logic alone, helping to fight against aggression was by right the correct choice.

In this case, were they really supposed to support the Orcs then? Somehow, Sui Xiong still could not shake off his doubts