Matter of Governance

"Chief, is that you?! What the heck?!!" Tombas bewildered. He was not alone though, the same goes for others as well.

Adrian landed in front of them without any warning. It causes dust to scatter in the vicinity of them. In an instant, their already dirty clothing was covered in a layer of dust.

Despite all of that, the new chief doesn't hear any grumbled noise from them. Numerous eyes were locked on the little flying beasts before them.

Adrian smirked haughtily at these people.

"I guess you couldn't wrap your mind around this, huh?" He patted the head of the bird he was riding on. His action caused dunirrs to twitch in fear. Then, they retreat for several steps as a precaution. Their chief is too bold. Aren't he afraid of getting killed by this bird?

"Don't worry, everyone. This bird is docile." He is seemingly aware of the wild imagination in their head right now.

"Chief!! Why are you returning so soon? Did you fail by any chance?" Immediately, Tombas interrogated. For an old man who lived for over a century, Tombas failed to hide his worry.

Due to the length of the story, coupled with his laziness, Riz passed the job to someone else. "Haja, explain to him."

Haja has no reason to refute. He was excited to share his experience with his fellow dunirrs as well. In his opinion, the past two days are more valuable than the entire hunting expedition he had ever gone on combined.

In the meantime, Adrian takes a stroll in the city. Everything seems to be in place accordingly. No matter how many times he looks at it, the construction progress keeps surprising him. It was no longer vacant land with shrubs, weeds or wild plants. This place has become a full-fledged city full of towering structures of stones and woods.

The highest building in Adrianopolis is a three-storey housing with a height of ninety centimetres complete with slate roofing. It is capable of providing a living space for a family of five on each floor. Nothing fancy actually. But, by dunirrs' level of knowledge in construction technique, it's an engineering feat worthy of praise for generations. Of course, none of this would be possible without the help of Adrian. He played a role in teaching them a lot with the help of the internet.

Initially, he never intended to build multiple-storey buildings. First, he is not confident with dunirrs' skills and workmanship. Second, the comfort of the occupants may be reduced. However, after giving it some thought, blending multiple-storey houses with the landed house aren't a bad option either. It can save some space in the city centre and diversify the city landscape.

In spite of all that, he feels like there is still something missing. Something really important.

After racking his brains for a while, he finally found the missing piece that was hovering in his mind. 'Now that I've returned, doesn't that mean I have to truly govern over these people? How do Tombas manage to do it?'

To get his answer, he needs to ask the old man himself.

"Hey, did you guys finish your talk yet?" Adrian approaches the two of them.

"Yes, chief!!" Tombas replies with sparkling eyes. Like some sort of hero straight out of fictional stories. Adrian doesn't know what Haja told this old man but he is probably exaggerating stuff.

"Err...are you okay?" Adrian asked with concern.

"I'm fine, Chief. I-I am just amazed hearing your feat from Haja. I've no doubt about you anymore. By the way, why did you call?"

"I want to know how you govern these dunirrs? Is there any system to follow?" He asked.

Tombas shrugs his shoulder, "That's easy, I handle pretty much everything here. I said and they listened."

Adrian raised his eyebrows, "That's kinda vague though...and overpowered like a king too. Do others not raise any objections? Did the previous chiefs not misuse their power?"

Tombas shook his head, "No one dares unless you want to get expelled to the wilderness. We have been doing this since my grandparent's time. Nothing much to do aside from gathering stuff and looking out for enemies and hostile creatures. If someone is unhappy, they can challenge the chief for the position. In case the challenger wins, then later prove to be incompetent, he'll find himself being plunged by thousands of spears from the rest of us."

Adrian shudder. How can this old man say something scary with a smile on his face? "W-Well, you're right about the punishment. Never show mercy to an incompetent leader. It is a recipe for disaster. So...Is it okay to make some changes? Nobody's gonna get angry, right?"

"Rest assured, you're chief now. We'll protest if we don't like it. So, what are your suggestions, chief?" said Tombas. His words failed to keep Adrian calm.

"Hmm...Let's establish a council to minimize the chief's power and distribute tasks."

Adrian proceeded by explaining his idea, Council of Adrianopolis. It's the highest power of the governing body. Its job is to advise the head of the tribe, which is him. Under the council is a department of food management, department of education, department of material resources and department of the military.

Food management is responsible for ensuring the total food brought by the hunters and foragers is sufficient to sustain the total amount of population. They record the foods by type

Education is in charge of constructing an educational structure for young dunirrs and providing training for teachers. The school he sought to establish will teach skills that include language, mathematics, basic science, magic, fighting, scouting and hunting.

Material resources are similar to food management but focus on managing non-food materials such as lumber, stones, slate and clay.

Lastly, the military administrates manpower for garrisons and patrols. Given that all dunirrs are capable of handling weapons, he doesn't feel a need for a standing army yet.

"The member of the council would consist of the head of these departments. As for who they were, I'll leave it for you people to choose." Adrian ended his explanation by letting them decide on their elected representatives. This way, his accountability as chief is going to be reduced in the event of something bad happening.

Tombas fell into deep thought, thinking about the reliability of the idea. "If we do as you suggested, wouldn't that mean we need many workers to make sure the department runs smoothly?"

"Yes."

"Then, what about their food if they can't go hunting?" Tombas express his concern.

"We'll be paying them with food instead. It's not like we have a shortage of food. I'm sure everybody understands the significance of this job to our community. In the future, not all people will go out hunting. Hunters will become more proficient in hunting while teachers become more proficient in teaching. Those who lacked strength will stay in the city and engage in sedentary tasks. You'll find more and more jobs emerge as time past by. It's called division of labour, an important step dunirrs need to take." Adrian tries his best to convince the old man before him.

"Alright, let's do as you said. The problem is we need a place for them to work in the future but..." Tombas looks around him. All the space has already been taken up.

Adrian caught Tombas's concern. He pointed his finger out at the centre of the city, "How about that place? Aren't it a bit wasteful to let it empty?"

"But, chief...That place is full of tree roots."

"Easy, we buried the root with soil, compact it and flattened it using magic. By doing so, we will get elevated circular land around the tree that we can use as administration places." His idea is to create an acropolis-like area to act as the nucleus of the city.

Adrian's well-thought solution startles Tombas, "So, you have thought of this for a long time, huh? If that is the case, I see no problem in your plan."