Chapter 138 - An Assassin from Batela

Russell's POV

 9 months ever since I was reincarnated into this world as a bus driver, and my life has been so much fun and great as a bus driver. I discovered my two magical abilities in the Secondary category, and became popular and well-known with everyone in my home country, the Kingdom of the Southern Plains, alongside the neighboring Kingdom of the Zale Valleys, because of the fast and reliable services of my bus and me, its driver. I was also well-known for using it to ram into my enemies or anyone who would dare to hurt me or my friends, family, or passengers. Yeah, it was quite strange, but those people liked it a lot.

 Despite all the attention and praise I received almost daily and the fact that I lived in an estate gifted by the royal Passato family, I still acted humble and kind, like in my previous life as Benjamin Taklaw. I managed to earn a living as a bus driver; not just that, I also received extra money from being a utility driver for everything from construction materials to wooden and barrel parcels, as well as being a small-time merchant, knight, and soldier with my bus. Yeah, call me rich, but I am still humble, charitable, hospitable, and kind as before.

 Also, ever since I discovered and unlocked Metal Manipulation, I have been training under Caspian and his mother, who are experts in using that ability. At the same time, I became an S-ranked bus driver, as said in my license's ranking. Yay! My hard work had paid off.

Third person POV

 Today is the month of Jayama, and somewhere in the territory within Batela, a group of villagers, who were persecuted by Aren's regime for being Renads and their mixed-race ethnic group, were running for their lives as some Batela soldiers are chasing them. These people, who were from the village of Eranville in Batela's Western Sapaq Territory, were desperate to get out of their toxic homeland and go somewhere else. Luckily for them, Russell, who had been informed of this by Nathan and some of James' journalist adventurers, came to the rescue by pulling over in his bus and opening its door. "Quick, get in!"

 Although most of them had never seen that thing before, the villagers hopped in, and Russell quickly closed the door, before shifting his gear to Drive and pressing the gas pedal hard.

The bus had left the scene, and the villagers' pursuers were shocked to see that their targets had gotten away with this, trying to chase them down on horseback but failing in the end.

 Not long after, Russell took them to the Southern Plains' capital Rossley, where the refugees were given a place to resettle and live in the Polsta Region within the country, much to the refugees' relief. These people owed a lot to the Bus Driver Hero for saving their lives, but Russell said that it was fine, not being prideful of his heroism and achievement. Back at Batela, upon finding that his targets had gotten away with Russell as their helper, Aren was furious, increasing his anger and grudge against Russell. Nicholas and George didn't send a letter of scolding to Aren, preferring to keep Russell's heroic deed confidential.

 So, a few days after the rescue by Russell in the Western Sapaq Territory, in the kingdom of Batela, as the common people and peasants are busy for the cold winter, Aren, while sitting on his throne, was talking to an assassin girl. The girl's name was Jaria Crassus, and she was a daughter of a lancanthrope named Jamia, one of the kingdom's well-known assassins working for the crowned prince. Aren told her to sneak into the Kingdom of the Southern Plains, find Russell May, and kill him, without telling her the reason why. Jaria, with her dark red hair and yellow eyes, then obeyed him without question, before getting up and walking away from the throne room.

 Later that day, she traveled from Queva City to the border of the Southern Plains on horseback and managed to pass through the border without suspicion since she disguised herself as a wandering traveler. After much finding, she found Russell cleaning his bus in Fernlay City at night. She based his description on Aren's description of his clothes and cap. It took her all day to travel to the Southern Plains and search for him. So, believing she had found her target, Jaria loaded a poisoned arrow into her bow and aimed it at Russell's back. And then, she fired the arrow, but upon hitting Russell's outer business suit of his attire, it bounced back, protecting him. Jaria was dumbfounded, knowing that her arrows were very sharp. But this one was debunked by Russell's outer business suit of his bus driver's uniform.

 "What?" Jaria's mind said in shock.

 At the same time, Russell felt a mild pain and turned around, only to see Jaria's poisoned arrow lying on the ground. Curious, he picked it up and examined it. The poison was a sticky substance of nightshade berries, and Russell was suspicious of it. Then, Russell looked at the tree where Jaria was hiding, prompting Jaria to hide from his sight. Russell then narrowed his eyes at it, before shrugging it off and returning to his task. At this point, Jaria knew that Russell was too unique to be eliminated and decided to keep on keeping an eye on his movements for a few days. Jaria did so while Russell drove around in his bus.

 And then, on the second day, Jaria was watching Russell in the streets of Rossley, while Russell was loading some crate parcels in his bus's baggage compartments. Leon, Sierra, John, and Adrian are with him, wanting to come with him for the day. And so, Jaria went out of her hiding place and approached the scene while pulling out her dagger.