Third person POV
The next morning, it was the 15th of the month, nearly a full year after Russell was reincarnated and set foot in this world. Also, today was Russell's 17th birthday, and that was notified to him, who had just woken up from a nice sleep in the morning, by the Renad System's screen. Upon seeing that, Russell was shocked and happy that today was his birthday. "Oh, man, I am now 17 years old, and a year in this world now!"
So, after making his bed, he woke John first, then his slave and friends in the other rooms on the floor, telling them what day is.
After all that, Azalea, John, and the dragon family were happy for him, knowing that it's been a year now. Azalea remembered Russell's kindness, too. Masha was happy for him, too. So, all of them went on a quest together in the Quesa Mountain Range by the border of the Zale Valleys kingdom as a treat on Russell's birthday, intending to celebrate the birthday with a feast later at night in Russell's home. For the quest itself, it had a 100 gold coin reward, plus a few gemstones like sapphires and pearls. Along the way, Russell did some stopovers until arriving to Ionawood City, the place closest to the mountains where the quest, which was in a complex dungeon, would take place. Adrian, Nathan, Samuel, and James also came with them after Russell picked them up. Cassius and Nicholas had entrusted Adrian's safety to them, and Russell promised that.
So, in that dungeon, the huge party took on the challenges of it. All of them displayed the full potential of their abilities. Nathan, though only had his Wolf Control ability, can now summon wolves of any kind out of thin air. Adrian proved to be an effective swordsman, and so was Russell. James maxed out his Secondary abilities very well. The dragon family also displayed their abilities to the max. But Russell's smartness had outsmarted the traps and challenges of the dungeon complex. At one time, 2 stone walls are closing in on them because one of them got the puzzle wrong, causing the stone walls to close in on them as a penalty. But then, Russell used the metal door from his bus's baggage compartment to jam them, shocking them. Luckily, it was infused with magic to make it virtually indestructible, causing the stone walls to crack and shatter into pieces like mirrors, much to their shocked chagrin. Russell was also stunned at his metal door's resilience even to some stone walls. Along the way, the party leveled up a few times, and Russell also received a number on his rank, which is now 2SS. This means that he can stay up to 2 days without sleep, perfect for overnight driving with his bus. Russell was stunned at this perk but was happy about it, taking it as a present for his birthday. At noon, in the middle of the dungeon complex, all of them had a lunch break, eating, drinking, and chatting about the good times they had together. Russell wished that Janet would come with them but knew that Janet was busy because this month is the rush for students to study to pass for the summer holidays next month; thus, Janet would be very busy with her job at the time. After that lunch break, all of them packed up and continued their quest until the end of it.
The quest ended in the afternoon, at 5:05 p.m., and all of them, happy that they had cleared all of it, returned to the surface, before stopping by at the city's marketplace to buy some food for the feast later at Russell's home in Fort Right. After that, the party hopped on Russell's bus and went to Leafmight to collect their reward. There the group did so and went straight to Fort Right to make their huge feast. At Russell's home, some of them prepared the vast backyard for the party. Russell, Nathan, Azalea, and Kelly prepared the food, while most of them went out to hand out invitations, which were made and printed by James, to friends and anyone who wanted to attend the birthday party. Samuel, meanwhile, went to the Outer District to search for a bakery that sells cakes. Adrian, Rai, and Ria flew to the royal palace in Rossley to hand out invitations to Nicholas, George, and others. Almost all of them decided to journey to Russell's home in Fort Right to attend the birthday party.
And so, all of these efforts paid off because the party was packed with guests from different socioeconomic backgrounds and races. Most of them gave their birthday and congratulatory greetings to Russell, and most even gave him presents to show their appreciation for him and his deeds. The Bus Driver Hero had the greatest time of his life, and Samuel brought out the cake he bought an hour ago. And then, Russell made a wish to continue living a simple life in this world and blew the candle, prompting everyone to clap and cheer for him. The night was filled with eating, drinking, chatting, and happy times in the form of laughing and some games and performances. Russell also opened his gifts and was delighted with gratefulness and thankfulness for them. Some of the gifts are clothes and books for him, while a handful are expensive gemstones. Russell was happy and said his statements of thank you and thank you very much to the gifts' givers. His life was so great as a bus driver that it earned him this reward.