Calendar Systems and Terms of Office

Blade Tusk rolled his eyes, ignoring the Middle Witch Doctor's teasing, which had no real malice behind it but was indeed not very amusing.

He turned to Meiya instead and asked, "Since you've been paying attention to these matters, have you thought about how to handle them? Could you tell us?"

"Yes, I have given it some thought..."

As Meiya explained, everyone gradually came to understand her ideas.

In short, Meiya had discovered and summarized certain cyclical patterns hidden within nature.

For instance, among the pack-dwelling Magic Beasts the tribe had named "Wind Wolves," the females would all enter heat during a certain period. If their cubs died young or were stolen after mating, gestation, and birth, the females would not immediately go into heat again. Instead, after some time had passed, they would once more enter heat alongside others of their kind.

After occasionally noticing this phenomenon, Meiya conducted deeper observations and reached the conclusion that "Wind Wolf heat is cyclical."

"I discovered that female Wind Wolves enter heat roughly every 430 to 500 days, and each heat period lasts around 13 to 21 days."

"Furthermore, after discovering this pattern, I realized there might be more such patterns hidden around us."

"And sure enough, I made further discoveries afterward."

"First, the 'gestation period' of female Trolls is basically consistent."

"Second, while we do not have the concept of a 'heat period,' female individuals experience times when their desire becomes especially strong at regular intervals. By comparing different samples, I found that females who mate during these times are more likely to become pregnant."

"Therefore, I call it the 'fertile period.'"

"Unlike the synchronized heat of animal populations in nature, although Troll women's 'fertile periods' do not occur at the same time, they still have an obvious cycle."

"Healthy, fully developed individuals usually experience their own 'fertile period' on a cycle of roughly forty days."

"In terms of relevance, I believe the 'fertile period' is more meaningful to the tribe than the duration of Wind Wolf heat, and perhaps it could serve as a unit for one level of time cycle."

"Finally, though I do not know why, nearly all naturally grown trees form their growth rings on nearly identical cycles."

"After cutting through a trunk and recording its growth rings, then using magic to mend the tree, I repeated this observation several times. I discovered that nearly every sample required roughly 480 days to form a new growth ring."

"The intervals between Magic Beast heat cycles vary greatly depending on the species, but tree growth rings are different—they are almost entirely consistent."

"Therefore, I believe the 'growth-ring cycle' is also suitable as a level of time measurement."

"Witch Doctor Meiya, your research is valuable, but you must still pay attention to safety. The tribe cannot easily bear the loss if something happens while you are out observing Wind Wolf packs alone."

Wind Wolves were hardly creatures friendly toward Trolls. Observing them at close range for extended periods carried great risks, not to mention such dangerous acts as "stealing cubs."

Blade Tusk was heartened by the tribe's witch doctor's spirit of exploration, but he also grew quietly wary.

Do these witch doctors truly understand their own value?

But since things had already come to this, after trying to persuade her a few times, he began discussing with the witch doctors how Meiya's research findings could be incorporated into their current timekeeping system.

This was not particularly complicated for Blade Tusk. Weren't concepts from his previous life like "years," "months," and "days" ready-made references?

So he did not overcomplicate things. With a spirit of simply taking what was useful, he quickly cobbled together a calendar system.

"Forty days make one month. Twelve months, or 480 days, make one year. Twenty years, 240 months, or 9,600 days, make one Prime Cycle. In other words, a Troll's growth period lasts twenty years, adulthood lasts 240 to 280 years, and old age lasts 30 to 50 years. The theoretical lifespan is 290 to 350 years."

"When you put it that way, our lives really are quite long. Let me calculate... Blade Tusk, you've just entered adulthood, so you're nearly thirty? Little Meiya should be under twenty. This really is much more convenient."

"Oh, right. Rough Tusk and I should both still be in adulthood too. Rough Tusk, do you remember how much older you are than me?"

"Let me think. I'm probably about eighty years older than you? I'm already at the end of adulthood, you're in the middle of it, and Blade Tusk has just stepped in. It used to take seventy or eighty years for a witch doctor to appear. Look at today—how wonderful."

"Enough reminiscing, you two witch doctors. We still need to consider the terms of office for the councilors and the executives."

After another round of not particularly heated discussion, the Trolls roughly settled the various terms of office as well.

"House of Commons councilors will serve ten-year terms, with half replaced every five years. Reelection is unrestricted, but no one may serve more than five terms in their lifetime. Rune Council councilors will serve thirty-year terms, with half reelected every fifteen years. Reelection is unrestricted, but no one may serve more than three terms in their lifetime. The Chief Executive will serve a twenty-year term, may be reelected up to three consecutive times, and may serve no more than six terms in total over a lifetime. If no one objects, we'll leave it at that for now?" (Supplement to prevent readers from quitting: the House of Commons plan failed, and the Rune Council term system never came to fruition. Since power lay in the witch doctors' hands, people gradually stopped mentioning the word "Chief" in Chief Executive, and it became merely one ordinary executive. The government structure will change after a hundred-odd chapters.)

"Let's leave it at that for now. It's hard to say what the future will bring, and these things will certainly need adjusting later." Sharp Tusk waved a hand indifferently. "Next comes how we communicate this to our Chieftain... Thinking about it, this is rather embarrassing."

"Hmph. It should be embarrassing. You threw all the other Trolls aside, and just us witch doctors and apprentices came up with all these rules. Is that appropriate?"

"Hey, listen to yourself! If we called every Troll here, wouldn't we still be the ones doing the talking in the end? What ideas could those brutes come up with besides fighting?"

"The key isn't whether they get to speak. It's whether they are present when decisions are made."

"What were you doing earlier? Worrying about this and worrying about that all day long, yet when it was time to speak, you didn't say a word."

"This is only a 'proposal'; it has not become a 'decision.' So stop shouting, you two. It's not too late for anything yet."

Seeing the two witch doctors lock horns again, Blade Tusk once more talked them down.

"What we should consider now is how to convey these things to the tribespeople. I've been thinking—do we really need to seize the position of Chief Executive for ourselves?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" Sharp Tusk, along with the other Trolls who favored "witch doctors holding power," all had their attention drawn by Blade Tusk's words.

"You were the one who proposed a 'Wise Chieftain' before, and now you're also the one saying it's 'unnecessary.' Why do you have a different idea every moment? Can't you settle on one?"

The Middle Witch Doctor said somewhat indignantly.

"Haha, don't be angry. Haven't circumstances changed? We didn't have the idea of establishing 'two councils' before."

Blade Tusk laughed it off and soothed him.

"Since the Rune Council can already fulfill our goal of 'controlling the direction of development' in terms of its function, there's no need to cling tightly to the most visible position. Didn't the Old Witch Doctor also raise concerns about being 'divided'? In that case, it would be better not to harbor monopolistic ambitions toward such an obvious position."

"Wouldn't the first Chief Executive position be perfect for demonstrating our intentions? Besides, if we let the Chieftain take that position, wouldn't there be less resistance?"

"...Would he agree to all those terms of office?" Sharp Tusk seemed persuaded and turned to ask about the possible point of disagreement.

"Haha, it should be fine as long as we explain the benefits. I think he may be worried too."

"Oh? Worried about what?"

"Worried that, a few years from now, some challenger might chop off his head."