Chapter 4 – Second Route

Third person POV

 Russell then parked his bus in a secluded area so he could rest and recharge. To do that, he checked into an inn nearby and got a room for himself for one night. So, he stayed there and ate his remaining food, before taking a bath at the inn's own bathhouse and resting up for the night after that. While resting, Russell had leveled up to Level 4 because of his defensiveness towards Elai's insults on him. The next day came, and he checked out of the inn and went to explore the town on foot. Although he only slept with his uniform on with his necktie off, Russell managed to get a good nice sleep. He knows he only has 17 coins for himself, so he tries his best not to spend it on anything other than food. For water, he gets some at a well nearby. Since he was used to drinking mineral water back in his previous life, he also tries his best to adapt to drinking water from sources like wells and rivers. He spent the entire morning exploring around and looking at shops and restaurants and even watched some dances at the town square, all the while he was learning the life, culture, and history of this world. In just hours, he consumed reading half of the book.

 Later, at lunchtime, he was at a tavern eating a simple meal for 2 gold coins. He didn't buy anything at the town street markets because he believed he could come back to this town in the future. As he ate, Adrian came to the tavern and saw him eating solemnly. He then sat down at the other side of the table. There was a short silence between them amidst the busy and loud environment of the tavern. Finally, Russell notices him and says, "Oh, it's you again."

Hearing that the young bus driver had said something, Adrian looked at him. "Hi there, it's me again."

Russell then put down his utensils and looked at him. "Oh, we meet again. What is it?"

 "I'm sorry for what my hero party leader said to you yesterday," replied Adrian while he was ashamed of her.

 "Come on, it's okay. You already apologized to me yesterday. Don't worry about it."

 "Thank you," Adrian responded with a slight smile. "By the way, my name is Adrian Paulton. I am an adventurer from the village of Hadrianwood."

 "Nice to meet you, Adrian-kun. My name is Russell May, and I am a bus driver."

But, he was shocked to hear that Adrian was from Hadrianwood, the place where he first woke up in this world. "You're from that village?!"

 "Yes, that is correct," replied Adrian formally, "you had been there before?"

 "Well…" Russell responded while thinking a bit.

He was hesitant and conflicted about whether he should tell him that he was reincarnated into this world or not.

But at the same time, he didn't have a current residence in any place in that world, making him stateless in that world's view except for his driver's license, which didn't provide any residence whatsoever.

So, Russell took a deep breath and responded, "I am a stateless person here."

This surprises Adrian. "You had no home here?"

Russell nodded. "Yes."

 "Oh, okay…um, what is a 'bus'?"

Russell then explained to him what it was.

 A few minutes later, Adrian was astonished to hear that, before being amazed on how it works. The reason why is that in this world, buses don't exist, alongside other modern forms of vehicles, and Russell's bus was the first of its kind. "Wow, that's amazing, Russell-san!" he responded in positive amazement. "You must be a skillful driver, right? Do you have a license for that?" In response to that, Russell gets his bus driver's license from his suit pocket and shows it to him. Upon closer inspection, Adrian was even more stunned to see that Russell was an A-ranked bus driver. "You're an A-ranked bus driver?"

Russell hears that and takes a look at it, only to be stunned that Adrian was right. "What? How?"

 "You must have trained so hard to achieve that feat." Adrian chuckled.

Putting his license down, Russell replied, "Yeah, I think I did."

He then put it back in his suit pocket and finished his meal.

 "Okay, I gotta go now." Adrian stood up. "Thanks for your time here."

 "No problem at all," Russell responded with a smile. "Have a good day."

With that, Adrian left the tavern, leaving him alone.

 Later, after lunch, Russell bought a meat pie as food for 1 gold coin for the journey and went to his bus. But upon arriving there, he saw a small group of people, looking worried and agitated. "Um, what is going on here?" Russell asked them. The group looked at him.

 "Um…are you the driver of this vehicle?" one of them asked.

 "Yes, I am. Why?"

 "Can you take us to Snowyfield Village?" another, a woman with brown, long hair, asked him. "We heard something bad happened there."

Russell was alerted. "What?"

 "We heard that some bandits were raiding it," another person, an old man, responded in response.

 "What? That's terrible!" Russell replied. "Let's go then."

He then climbed into his bus via the open door and sat on the driver's seat, before starting the engine.

 "Get in!" he tells them.

The group did so and sat down on the vacant seats.

Russell then shifted the gear to Drive and started driving from the secluded space and through town.

 "Okay, where's that village?" he asked them.

One person from the group then stood up and went to the front. "I'll tell you the directions. Just keep on driving."

Russell nods and keeps on driving as the person, a young adventurer, gives him directions to Snowyfield Village.

And as he drove along, Russell thought in his mind, "Well, my journey in this world was just starting."