Inside Athens.
Ioannis Makriyannis paced back and forth in the city defense command headquarters. He had never imagined things would end up like this.
Loyalist forces had begun appearing outside the city. Although the local militias lacked siege weapons, they could blockade Athens's routes to the outside world and cut off its overland supplies.
By now, Athens had lost contact with the other rebellious city-states. The British, the Russians, and the Ottomans had all failed to respond; the map was pitch-black.
What chilled Ioannis Makriyannis to the bone most of all was that Athens's citizens opposed them as well. They had even branded him the number one traitor to the nation.
Ioannis Makriyannis had never intended to participate directly in the rebellion.
Because Greece lacked population and Otto I had repeatedly launched large-scale wars, Greece could practically be considered a nation where every citizen was a soldier. Many households had weapons, so the resistance from Athens's populace was exceptionally fierce.
Although Greece's domestic elite had suppressed them several times, they still could not avoid being shot from the shadows.
For a time, these high-and-mighty lords who usually strutted about in all their glory no longer dared show their faces in public. Many soldiers also chose to flee—some out of conscience, others because they could see no future ahead.
In any case, Athens's defensive strength had now been greatly weakened.
Worse was yet to come. A city defense soldier rushed in, flustered and panicked.
"Report! Mr. Asterios, he—"
"He what? Spit it out!"
Ioannis Makriyannis had no mind for manners now. Asterios was the instigator of this rebellion, everyone's pillar of support.
Of course, this rebellion could never have happened without the tacit approval of Ioannis Makriyannis, the commander of the city defense forces.
Ioannis Makriyannis knew that Otto I trusted