Chapter 436. Left Behind (1/2)

The Bright Republic truly transitioned into a war footing by now. Spending on consumer goods decreased while spending on all things related to war ballooned. Prices of basic goods already started to rise as everyone started to stock up on basic goods.

Food, water, weapons and more began to be sold at greater quantities. This came at the cost of luxury goods, whose manufacturers found it increasingly difficult to convince the citizens to spend their money lavishly.

”Will luxury be able to feed me when our planet is blockaded? Will the most fashionable pair of shoes around be able to defend my children if the Vesians want to take them away?”

Most of the newer companies started to go bust while the older, more conservative companies endured. They had gone through this rodeo many times before, and squirreled away lots of liquidity and resources beforehand. This largely mitigated the economic impact on the Bright Republic's economy, though a downturn in activity was inevitable.

Although the Republic did not suffer a lot of material damage in the opening stages of the war, the damage to morale was more significant. Public confidence had taken a large nosedive ever since the 3rd Imodris Legion stomped their boots all over of the Bentheim region.

While the aggressive Vesians didn't have the guts to attack a stronghold, their strategy of attacking many lightly-defended targets succeeded in harming the spirit of the citizens who lived on those same rural planets.

That the Mech Corps never caught up to Lady Amalia's legion before it successfully returned to Vesian space really struck as a blow to the Mech Corps. The will of the people was a very ephemeral entity. It could swing up and down depending on the most notable events.

Right now, everyone went about their lives with their heads bent a little down. Ever since the war broke out, the Vesians had marched through tons of border systems. While the Mech Corps achieved some victories here and there, the larger trend made the Vesians seem as if they were on fire.

The veterans and the elderly knew that this wasn't anything unusual. The Mech Corps purposely drew back their lines and consolidated their defenses. Their counterattack would come sooner or later after the Mech Legion ran out of steam. The Vesians always had a tendency to overextend.

”You ain't seen nothing yet, son. The Vesian bastards don't move as one. Their nobles are a bunch of jackals who only think for themselves. Just you wait. They'll split up eventually.”

In the meantime, many planets increased their defenses and started to recruit more militia from the populace, even if they didn't possess the right aptitude to pilot mechs.

Though it was a generally accepted fact that a non-mech force would never be able to defeat a force of mechs, norms still played a vitally important role in many areas. Besides acting in a support capacity, regular humans also fought as infantry or in manned vehicles such as tanks and aircraft.

After all, a mech force was good at destroying things, but they weren't too suitable in occupying conquered planets and couldn't reach everywhere.

Infantry, tanks and aircraft might not play the main role, but they provided an effective form of support to any mech force.

However, recruitment was heavily stymied by the fact that it wasn't very popular to join these branches of service. Pretty much every action drama that have been broadcast in the last four-hundred years depicted them as easily-beaten foils to any enemy mechs that wandered along.

If the citizens wouldn't volunteer, then the state just had to push them along. Already, several waves of conscription swept the populace. They mostly picked up the unemployed youth and young adults who had been laid off when the companies they worked at shuttered their doors or downsized their operations due to the difficult economic conditions.

This further depressed the general mood in the Republic and made it seem awfully empty at times.

On Cloudy Curtain, Calsie watched over the premises of the Mech Nursery. The white-faced office structures blended harmoniously with the trees planted in their midst. They also neatly hid the ugly forms of Sanyal-Ablin's defensive turrets.

She looked a far cry from the college graduate from before. She underwent a minor makeover that made her appear more mature, though the wisps of youth was still present under her makeup. She wore a white power suit that mentally stiffened her spine. She sorely needed all the help she could get in order to browbeat the different interest groups involved with the LMC to comply with her directives.

Somehow, she managed. Running a company as its temporary boss wasn't easy, but she enjoyed plenty of help.

Under her tentative leadership, the company largely followed the same trend as before. The Living Mech Corporation had just expanded its number of production lines from three to five. This allowed the company to produce the silver label Blackbeaks and Crystal Lords without excessively neglecting either of the two highly sought after mech models.

The doors to the penthouse office suddenly opened, allowing Melkor to enter the expansive space. The maturing Larkinson was the only other person besides Calsie who possessed unfettered access to the office that used to be occupied by Ves.

”How is the training coming along, commander?”

”The 'rookies' we've recruited have are starting to show signs of advanced coordination, ma'am. They've always been ready for battle, since we only signed up experienced mech pilots, but it's hard work to get them to unlearn their previous routines and get them to adopt our own.”

”Will the Avatars of Myth be able to repel a company of the 5th Vavulan Chasseurs if they come again?”

”Not quite, ma'am. The Chasseurs are a battle-hardened mech pilots with centuries of tradition to guide them. They aren't pushovers and they won't be cowed by the current state of my men. It will take years of training to get to that point. The only edge we have is our advanced mechs.”

The Avatars of Myth employed the Crystal Lord in greater numbers than anyone else. Not only did they possess four exclusive gold label copies, they also fielded a whopping twenty silver label Crystal Lords.

Fabricating them all out of the LMC's own pocket cost the company a lot. Almost the entire board of directors howled when Calsie and Melkor came up with the plan, but they pushed through regardless of the pain. At least Grandpa Benjamin remained ambivalent about the matter.

Naturally, the LMC also spent itself broke by expanding their number of production lines. They had no choice but to go further into debt, with the excuse that the company would be better off with the extra defenses.