Victory changed the world faster than war ever could.
Tripoli was quiet now — too quiet. The streets that once echoed with shouts and steel were filled instead with merchants reopening shops, refugees returning to damaged homes, and soldiers standing guard not as conquerors, but as lawkeepers.
Roland watched the city from the citadel balcony.
He had won everything he set out to reclaim.
Now he had to keep it.
A Kingdom Stretched Wide
The first council of the united coast convened in Tripoli's great hall.
For the first time, representatives from Jerusalem, Acre, Tyre, Tortosa, and Tripoli sat at the same table.
Amalthea spoke first, her tone measured.
"Our borders have tripled in less than two years. Trade is flowing, but governance is strained. Taxes differ by region. Laws contradict each other. If we do not unify the system now, cracks will form."
Bishop Evrard nodded. "The people fear chaos returning more than they fear foreign enemies."
Sir Aldric folded his arms. "And our army is spread thin. Garrisoning the coast, the inland roads, and Jerusalem itself is… costly."
Roland listened without interruption.
He had prepared for war.
He was now preparing for something harder.
Administration.
The King's Decree
That afternoon, Roland issued his first major peacetime decree.
It was read aloud in every major city.
"There shall be one law across the kingdom.
One tax system.
One standard of coin.
And one oath of protection — from the smallest village to the greatest city."
The response was mixed.
Merchants welcomed it.
Nobles feared it.
The people… waited to see if it was true.
Roland knew reforms created enemies just as surely as wars did.
The First Resistance
The resistance came from where Roland expected — the old nobility.
In Acre, several former lords refused to submit their private levies to royal command.
In Tyre, guild leaders protested new tax standards.
And in Tripoli itself, a secret meeting was held in the ruins of an old manor.
Lucien brought the report.
"They're calling themselves the Compact of the Old Blood," he said. "Former lords, wealthy merchants, and a few clergy. They don't want a unified kingdom."
Roland sighed.
"Of course they don't."
"Do we arrest them?" Aldric asked.
Roland shook his head.
"No. Not yet. Let them reveal themselves."
Power was more dangerous when hidden.
A Threat from Beyond
That night, a messenger arrived from the east.
He bore the seal of a neighboring Muslim emirate.
The letter was brief.
"The rise of Jerusalem has not gone unnoticed.
Your expansion disrupts the balance of the Levant.
We request negotiations — or prepare for consequences."
Roland folded the letter slowly.
A new war was coming.
But this one would not be fought for land alone.
It would be fought for legitimacy.
The Man Roland Had Become
Later, Roland walked the streets of Tripoli alone, wearing a simple cloak.
People recognized him anyway.
A woman bowed and thanked him for reopening the wells.
A child saluted awkwardly with a wooden sword.
An old man whispered, "The kingdom lives again."
Roland felt something twist inside his chest.
He had been reborn into this world with knowledge of the future.
But now?
He was shaping it.
Lucien joined him at the harbor.
"You could have ruled through fear," Lucien said. "It would've been easier."
Roland stared at the sea.
"Yes," he replied. "And it would've ended faster."
He turned back toward the citadel, where councils, laws, and threats awaited.
"I didn't fight to become another tyrant of the coast," Roland said. "I fought to build something that survives me."
The Calm Before the Storm
As Chapter 23 closes, the Kingdom of Jerusalem stands whole for the first time in generations — stronger, richer, and more unified than ever before.
But beneath the peace:
Old nobles conspire
Foreign powers watch closely
The army waits
And Roland prepares for a war that will not be decided by swords alone
Because conquest had made him king.
But rule would decide whether he deserved the crown.