Charleston

After meeting the previous king, they went through detailed plans to cooperate with Haiti. The % and the amount of land allocated to each state.

After that, he stayed another 2 days; he just began his trip back to the Cape of Haiti.

This time, because no one knew about him leaving, the ride was quite lonely. But peaceful, a sensation which he dreads and also looks forward to. It meant he would be alone with his thoughts, but at the same time, not much to worry about.

He was planning to get some closures for what happened the last time he spent in Haiti, yet, he was not really able to get one. He knows if he stays there for much longer, he will be there for a long time due to the number of people looking for him.

He looked at the mountain ranges, which looked identical to the ones in the heart of the Colombian Empire.

He would get lost in seeing such wild vegetation growing on the side of the mountain, making him remember the time he walked through it. Pushing branch by branch to make way. Ever since he saw the Baron, Felipe has not met an existence like it.

He has researched it, and apparently, in Haitian Culture, there is a family of deities able to govern multiple concepts of life. Most of them had powers that could only be considered godly. All in all, they were the remanences of an African culture, now known as Voodoo. Yet anything he found was commented about witchery; plus, he really didn't pay more attention.

The Baron was summoned to kill him, yet, he didn't. To his understanding, the Baron and his family are servants of god himself, like angels; they have very little ways to interact with the world.

And the fact that he saw something as bizarre as that made him a believer, yet he has not seen anything resembling that.

All in all, things passed quickly; Felipe arrived at the port where their Galley was anchored. Even with their discretion and efforts not to make themselves noticed, a bunch of white soldiers in the streets of a big city was just not normal.

"Good god," Morales exclaimed as he saw the people arriving by the dozen at the same port they had just left.

"They are like ants when they find a piece of food," Casablanca said while also being surprised.

The soldiers could have 2 days of vacation in the Palace of Haiti; they were surprised by how much it reminded them of home. They could taste very different foods that were not prepared in the Empire.

It was the promise militaries give in the 21st century; Enlist, and you will see the world. They were doing just that. A surreal experience which almost no one will be able to experience in their lifetime.

"Do you think the crown prince will become the future emperor of Haiti?" One of the soldiers who was rowing asked.

"With all that people loving him. He could easily take over the country and make it like the Kingdom of Bolivia." Morales said with pride.

"Heh, imagine getting a kingdom named after you." Casablanca chuckled, "You just have to be a good general, win all the battles, defeat a global superpower and obtain a huge influence."

"Yeah, only that." Another soldier said as they began to laugh. The crown prince was in another boat ahead of them, so they laughed with some degree of discretion.

--

Felipe arrived in Haiti with just the idea of colonization. He left with a promise of war against the French in about 4 months.

The sails fell, and the wind began pushing furiously against them. They were off to the USA.

In 1826, The USA acquired Lusiana over a decade from Napoleon. They are expanding west alongside their spirit, their deity, 'Manifest Destiny.' The moral excuse for the massive migration from the East to the West.

Their empress, their leader, their spirit. The USA bought Florida early in 1821 from Sapin—that money created a Reconquista army and navy, which the Colombian Empire either destroyed or captured.

As a matter of fact, the Galley in which they were sailing was a refurbished Spanish naval ship. The ship was retrofitted to have fewer cannons and more luxury to serve as a transportation vessel able to fend for itself.

Felipe looked out the window as the coast of Haiti was leaving his eyes sight due to the curvature of the Earth. "…" He felt surreal; so much has happened, and now he is part of something huge that will change the world's destiny as it is.

He turned around, and with inspiration, he took out a piece of paper and some ink, so he began writing the second part of his novel. Since he arrived at the different timelines, he has only been writing for political purposes, he has yet to really write any other work, and the long journeys of the 19th century gave him that opportunity.

Even though he wanted to make his original thing, he imitated the Colombian Author Gabriel Garcia Marques with his Magic Realism. Nevertheless, he has a publishing platform and ideas and concepts that have yet to be explored at such a time. Anything that he writes will be considered groundbreaking.

He realized he misses time on which he will be alone without thinking about responsibilities, yet, problems seem to follow him; they keep appearing every single time.

All in all, Felipe had a pretty long ride which, in between strong winds and calm times, it was really nothing major.

Even though the Floridian Peninsula was bought a year ago, the USA still needs to be fully populated and civilized.

So instead of stopping at the Peninsula, they went directly to Charleston, South Carolina.

Felipe was not in official business as the crown prince of the Colombian Empire but as a private citizen owner of the Matches Company.

Funny enough, the biggest Matches-making operations were in Charleston; the Other is in Northfolk, Virginia.

The thing about his factory in Charleston is that he also owns the mine for the phosphorus, and that mine is nearby the factory.

The Factory in New York was made mainly because it was closer to shipping from there to Europe; moreover, it could have been more productive. It needed raw materials from other sides, ramping up the cost per match. However, it was still very profitable as it would outproduce all others due to the industrialization of the place.

Felipe arrived at the crack of dawn.

His whole body was sticky; after so much sweat and constant workouts, the humidity and heat created a weird sensation.

"Fuck it, I have time," Felipe said as he went back to take a bath, which he could only do because they were arriving at their destination; after all, fresh water is too valuable on a long journey.

--

Felipe took his good time to shower and get dressed.

"Sigh."

Arriving at the ship's Deck, Felipe found all his soldiers lined up to a ladder to the port. On the dock, there were many people; he could see how the soldiers making a path for him changed from his soldiers to The Northern American soldiers.

The Governor of South Carolina was there to meet him. Richard Irvine Manning I, serving from 1824 to 1826.

Felipe understood what was happening; for once, the governor was in reelection time, and his factories provided many [paying jobs for white people.

Felipe was not taking black people as slaves for his companies; he only hired white people, especially for the two factories in the country's south.

He created jobs for poor white people in South Carolina, making whatever he thought was important in the state's local elections. And it was not really the people that actually made the matches. Still, the number of jobs created by creating Phosphorous Mines in the state was more important.

He just smiled, not caring that he had made people wait in that position for over 7 minutes; the enthusiasm was gone, and the people were getting bored with the waiting. The people with the trumpets and the drums were already sitting down, so when he came out, they all stood up pretty damn quickly and started playing cheery music.

Felipe has already grown quite a costume to the way of things—he has to smile and wave a few times, though he could see that many people in the crowd were not really impressed with him; people took attention to him when he finally reached the ground, and people saw how Felipe was towering over everyone in the place.

The first thing that Felipe did was shake the hand of the current governor of South Carolina; it was small compared to his, which was already the norm for him, so with enough muscle control, he didn't

crushed the hand of the governor and then looked to the next person.

The person next to the governor is a person Felipe himself has never seen yet; he has spoken with him quite a lot. His name is Quincy John Mason. CEO of the Matches Company.