An Unorthodox Welcome

According to the contract signed by his mother, Alex had to spend 4 months with each family every year, starting from the Grey family. Next, it would be the Smirnov family, and then it would be the Zhao family. He would be allowed to train with the best assassins, and take on family exclusive missions from all of the major families.

This was all done because they valued his potential, so he had to work hard. 5 days had passed since his mother's visit, and he had started his training in full force. He had no time to waste. But today was the day that he was finally going to leave the Kramer family. He didn't say any goodbyes. Alice had locked herself up in her room, and Zira did come to see him out but refused to speak anything. All the other members wanted to speak to him, but they couldn't after seeing the stat that they were being left in by the main family. These three years had been beneficial for all of them, as they got to experience so much that due to their temporary young master. After he left though, the chances of them being able to stay relevant were bleak. They would still be completing missions, but their standing in association with the main family was bound to take a drastic drop after being on the rise due to the presence of Alex for all these years.

And so he left. Just like that. No tears, final words, goodbyes, nothing. Except for a note.

Alice was the person that this note was addressed, and it consisted of a single sentence. This sentence, however, had more importance in her life than anything else.

"Don't think that I would forget our promise."

This was his promise. A promise that he would return and show the world that he didn't need to select any one of them. He had a home to return to.

After considering for a long time, he had decided that as soon as he reached the required age to make his decision to join a family, which was 18, he was going to make the Kramer family a completely different entity. He was pretty sure that he could only be free when he made that decision, the other families would try to control him every chance they got if he were to become an assassin from their family.

"Let's return as someone worthy enough to keep that promise."

He murmured to himself, while he was on a plane to Ohio.

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Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Ohio.

Alex got out of the plane, after a flight of almost 7 and a half hours. He had arrived in their private jet, so the time had been significantly reduced.

Claudia was not very happy. She wanted to stay as far as possible from the brat that had humiliated her in front of the madam, but as luck would have it, he was being delivered to her family through speed post. When she got to know about the details of the mission that he had undertaken and completed, she knew that one of the families was going to claim him sooner or later. Turns out, he was so valuable in madam's eyes that all the major families had to share him allowing him to grow in their ranks by taking turns, not at all worried about the fact that he would turn on them. They made such a decision because they knew that he was going to be a world-class assassin, but he still was only one person. Even the family heads were not stupid enough to fight against 3 families alone, which was a big statement. What could a kid like him accomplish?

Along with her were her brother, her elder sister, her mother, and her father. They had all decided to receive him together because all of them wanted to meet the Kid who was able to tame their tigress.

Alex recognized all of them. He had already met Claudia, who definitely hated him. He sighed at that. It was not nice to have anyone that hated you from the very start. He could be subjected to discrimination later on, which was a pain.

The first one to come and greet him was the eldest sister, the one who gave up her right to be the head. She was supposed to be a free-spirited prodigal, who didn't want the responsibility that came with being the head of the family. She one of the most dedicated assassins of her generation, who never gave her enemies any chance. She just wanted to be free in exchange for her services, and her father respected that. Her Shaky origins were due to the rumours that she had spread herself so that people would be more accepting of her younger sister. Her name? Jane Grey.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Jane and I would like to welcome you into the family on behalf of everyone."

Alex smiled. What a way to test him. They wanted to check if he still had any of the arrogant noble attitude left inside of him. Everyone thought that she was considered an outcast inside the family, which was a great cover for her actual standing in the family, which was pretty close to her father.

Alex replied with,

"It's nice to meet you too, Miss Jane. Your reputation doesn't represent your actual self."

The smile on her face vanished. She looked at him with an expression of great intrigue.

She then turned back to her family and said,

"I like him. He is a kid, but he knows not to judge anyone due to their reputation."

Claudia harrumphed, her brother smiled, and the parents looked at the kid with hope. winning her approval was extremely difficult, so they knew that the kid was worth investing in.

"As for his skills,"

She suddenly brought out a hidden knife, aiming directly for his head. Alex had read her movements way before she actually made them obvious, so he was easily able to dodge the attack, and twisted her hand with his own arms to disarm her in a flash.

She had a looked of satisfaction on her face. Her younger sister had been ranting about him using an unfair strategy to defeat her, but this proved that it was just her sister who was being butthurt. This boy had real skills.

Alex picked up the fallen knife and returned it to Jane. He was convinced that he had at least made them write off any bad rumours that they might have heard about him, which was a good step forward. This welcome was a bit unorthodox, but he preferred this over being looked down on by everyone.

Lucius was happy. Finally, he would be able to pass on his techniques to a worthy successor.

He came towards him and patted his head. After doing so for approximately 2 minutes, he said,

"Will you be willing to accept me as your teacher?"