1885, I came to save Greece

Chapter 78 Workers and Monarchs

"Open the door."

"Then, prepare a megaphone for me."

Kostas thought he had misheard.

He looked at the young crown prince before him, at his spotless military uniform, and at the gate that could be breached by a mob at any moment, and his heart clenched.

"Your Highness! What are you doing?!"

Constantine did not answer, nor did he pause in his steps.

Actions were his most direct answer.

He wanted to place himself right in the eye of the storm.

He wanted to turn this humanitarian crisis, which Zaimis had meticulously prepared for him, into an unprecedentedly grand stage for him to win over the hearts and minds of the people.

"He's gone mad... His Highness has gone mad!" a young team member murmured in disbelief.

Kostas grabbed him by the collar, his eyes bloodshot, and roared in a low voice, "Shut up! Execute His Highness's orders!"

He whirled around and roared at his two strongest teammates, "Open the door!"

"Squeak—creak—"

The heavy iron gate of the port authority building, which separated order from chaos, was slowly pulled open with a teeth-grinding scraping sound.

Sunlight and noise surged in like a flood bursting its banks.

The faces of thousands of dockworkers, some angry, some hateful, some numb, were clearly displayed before everyone's eyes.

Then they saw it.

Constantine walked out alone.

He was dressed in a black combat uniform without any rank insignia, and his boots were covered in mud. This attire made him look less like a high-ranking prince and more like a soldier about to go to the battlefield.

Behind him stood Kostas and the remaining players. They did not raise their guns, but their expressions were cold and stern, like silent statues, forming the only order in the square.

Constantine's appearance brought a three-second silence to the bustling square.

No one expected that the crown prince, whom they cursed, would actually dare to step forward and face their wrath alone.

Then, the deathly silence was replaced by an even more ferocious roar!

"Get out of Piraeus!"

"Murderer! Give us back our jobs!"

In the crowd, a burly man with a hideous scar on his face flashed a ruthless glint in his eyes. He grabbed a fist-sized rock at his feet and hurled it with all his might toward Constantine's head.

"Your Highness, be careful!" Kostas cried out, his eyes blazing with fury.

The stones, accompanied by the sound of the wind, came whistling in.

Constantine didn't flinch, he didn't even blink.

The stone flew past him, almost grazing his temple, and slammed into the open iron gate behind him with a dull thud.

"Bang!"

The loud noise was like a heavy hammer blow to everyone's hearts.

The square fell silent again.

Everyone saw it.

His Highness the Crown Prince remained unfazed by the flying stones, not even moving an inch.

This fearless attitude is far more impactful than any roar or threat.

In the distance, flashbulbs went off wildly among the reporters, capturing this breathtaking scene forever.

After a brief silence, the thugs in the crowd began to move. They realized that real violence had to be ignited immediately.

"He's provoking us!"

"Brothers, charge! Avenge our families!"

The burly man with a scar on his face, known as "Scarface" Nikos, rushed straight to the front of the crowd and shoved down an elderly worker with white hair and unsteady steps.

"Ouch!" The old worker fell to the ground, letting out a painful groan.

Nikos immediately pointed at Kostas's guards and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Look! The prince's henchmen are beating people! They're attacking the old man!"

The crowd's anger was reignited, like a pile of dry wood doused with oil, threatening to spiral completely out of control.

Just then, Professor Andreas strode up behind His Highness and whispered quickly in his ear, "Your Highness, we've found out. The ringleader is named Nikos, a thug from the Skopelos shipyard. It's recorded on their confiscated internal payroll: three hundred drachmas a month!"

Constantine nodded slightly and calmly raised the megaphone...

"The one who pushed the old man down!"

The sound wasn't loud, but it instantly drowned out all the noise.

"Yes, it's you!"

Constantine's hand pointed precisely at "Scarface" Nikos.

I know you.

"You're 'Scarface' Nichols, the henchman of the Skopelos shipyard. You get three hundred drachmas a month from the Skopelos family's account. That's more than any dockworker here earns in a year of hard work."

These words shocked everyone present!

All the workers' gazes instantly shifted from Kostas's guards to "Scarface" Nikos. Their expressions changed from camaraderie to naked suspicion and alienation.

Nikos's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red. He tried to explain, but found that his coworkers around him were subconsciously moving away from him, as if he were carrying a plague.

Constantine's voice rang out again, booming across the square like thunder through the loudspeaker, reaching everyone's ears clearly.

"How much money did the Skopelos family pay you today to come here, to seduce an old man about the same age as your father, and put on this show?"

"You!" Nikos pointed at Constantine, stammering incoherently.

Constantine didn't look at him again; his gaze slowly swept over the thousands of workers present.

"Do you think I'm here to take away your jobs?"

"wrong!"

His voice suddenly rose, becoming resolute!

"I'm here to personally return to you, one by one, the jobs that were stolen from you by national parasites like Skopelos, jobs that rightfully belonged to you!"

He put down the megaphone, took a few steps forward, and got closer to the angry crowd.

They were so close that they could see every wrinkle etched on their faces by labor and poverty.

They were so close they could smell the mixture of their sweat and cheap tobacco.

Under the shocked, bewildered, and confused gazes of thousands, Constantine made a promise that would change Greek history and the fate of everyone present.

"I, Crown Prince Constantine of Greece, hereby declare!"

"Starting today, immediately allocate a portion of all smuggled assets seized from the Skopelos family to establish the 'Greek Workers' Pension and Healthcare Security Fund'!"

"All workers registered in the port of Piraeus will be among the first beneficiaries of this fund!"

"From this day forward, your birth, aging, sickness, and death will no longer be a disaster for your family alone!"

"The state will protect you!"

"When you can no longer work, the country will support you in your old age!"

"When you are sick or injured, the government will provide you with funds for medical treatment!"

"This is the new Greece that I, Constantine, want to bring you!"