It is said that one of the hardest things for a man who has known long periods of warfare to do is to put down his weapon and pick up a hoe. The transition from serving in the armed forces during long periods of war and conflict to serving in a more civilian role can be difficult and some cannot truly escape the battles they have fought. They say war is a terrible thing, a thing that takes the sane and strong and breaks them down bit by bit until there exists only one way forward for them. War can inflict terrible suffering on all involved, not just the soldiers and their leaders, but the civilians and even the land that they fight on itself.

Arkhan, in his wisdom, knew this all too well. Even a single skirmish could break people, to say nothing of long-term engagements and witnessing the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction. He could not, in good conscience, allow those who served with distinction to suffer in silence due to the aftereffects of war. The fact that most of his nation’s people were already Newtypes and the rest were swiftly following suit only added to the direness of the potential situation.

Newtypes are, in a way, powerful empaths. What one of them feels, many others will and vice versa. Certain, more powerful Newtypes can even pick up on the residual echoes of suffering in places where many felt pain, fear and hatred among other emotions. With a nation nearly filled with such people, Arkhan had no choice but to request that the Senate push forward legislation that aided veterans and others who suffered emotional and psychological scars.

In his own words, “A nation that cannot provide for the mental wellbeing of its own people does not have the right to complain when those left untreated go on a rampage. A nation that cannot provide for its veterans, those who could have potentially and in some cases fully offered up their lives in exchange to save their own nation, is a nation that has no right to complain when people refuse to enlist and when the veterans they ignored stage a coup.”

It didn’t take long for said legislation to be passed, and with the way things were going for Arcadia economy-wise, it did not seem at all like there would be any issues regarding funding. Yes, the Arcadian Galactic Commonwealth was doing fine and, unlike the former superpower that was the rapidly dissolving United Galactic Nations, its territories were experiencing no end of growth and prosperity.

Arkhan and his nation, now having almost fully transitioned into ‘Peace-time Mode’, had more than enough time and money (despite being in debt) to spare on things others might call frivolous or wasteful, such as trying to save money so as to pay off the national debt instead of immediately spending it on the military. While a decent chunk of the national budget was indeed spent on the military, a fair bit more was spent on infrastructure, education, and other sectors. The reason the military budget was not as large as you might expect boiled down to a single reason.

The nation’s government, military and its budget took into account that, in times of conflict and need, Arkhan could simply mass produce ships, soldiers and weapons to make up for losses. While it would certainly be a stopgap measure, history had shown that if you throw enough bodies at a problem it would go away. Just ask the Eastern European Front Generals during both World Wars about how, if you had more soldiers than the opponent had bullets, you could drown an enemy in a tide of bodies.

Arcadia, protected by the absolute fuckton of Mobile Suit Golems, Mobile Armor Golems and warships, had enough safety and peace of mind to cut back the military spending (by only a bit, of course) and reinvest that money into a different venture. For, you see, like a lot of Earth nations, Arcadia was in debt. Years of war and rapid expansion had forced Arkhan and his nation to do something no one should ever try to do. Arcadia was forced to spend money it didn’t have in order to support itself.

To put things into perspective, if Arcadia was an Earth-bound nation with the same level of civilization one might expect from a continent-spanning superpower, its nation debt would roughly be more than 2.8 times that of the United States of America. Not as bad as, say, Venezuela, but still a massive threat nonetheless. By letting Arkhan’s hordes of MSGs, MAGs and mass-produced ships and equipment take center stage and having the rest of the military put in storage, the military budget could be slashed and the money that would have put Arcadia deeper in the hole could be used to gradually fill that hole instead.

It was estimated that, if national spending was locked like it was now and the economy remained stagnant, it would take at least two and half decades before the national debt would be considered tolerable. In Earth terms, combining the current budget with a stagnant and unchanging global economy would result in the nation debt being roughly 1/10th of the USA’s by the end of two and half decades. Of course, that was, as was previously stated, only applicable if the economy was completely stagnant and not a single crisis occurred.

But what were the odds of such an optimistic yet pessimistic future taking place? None whatsoever, that’s what. Arcadia’s economy was growing, but in a regulated way, which meant that the nation’s tax revenue was growing month by month. A bit of Keynesian economics, combined with temporary tax breaks for companies and corporations that improved the economy (but not at the cost of their employees and customers) made the economy grow and the national debt shrink.

Compared to its former rival, Arcadia was in the middle of a golden age that seemed to only shine that much brighter as months passed. When Arkhan celebrated his twenty-fifth birthday, enough of the debt was paid off for Arkhan to permit a bit of actual lavishness and not the ‘save money by slashing unneeded spending so we don’t drown our nation and future generations in eternal debt’ kind of extravagance that Earth-based nations would find uneconomical.

As the day approached, Arkhan’s flagship was brought out of storage and, along with a decently sized fleet, began to tour the whole of the AGC, system by system. Nothing could spoil this wonderful celebration that showed off the founder of the greatest nation in galactic history.

Right?