Redundant Chapter 8: The Gatekeeper Doga - First Part

Translators: Pielord Miniman
Editors/Proofreaders : Diohaveto, King of the End, Manch

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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Part 1

In the Asura Kingdom there’s a group known as the Seven Knights of Asura.
They are those who have pledged absolute loyalty to Ariel Anemoi Asura.

Leading them:
The『King’s Dagger』Luke Notos Greyrat.

In charge of offence are the Three Knights of the Left-Wing:
The『King’s Greatsword』Sándor von Grandeur.
The『King’s Halberd』Oswald Eurus Greyrat.
The『King’s Hound』Ghyslaine Dedorudia.

In charge of defence are the Three Knights of the Right-Wing:
The『King's Gatekeeper』Doga.
The『King’s Rampart』Sylvester Ifrit.
The『King’s Greatshield』Isolte Cruel.

Seven people.
There are those whose birth and descent are clear,
but others were those who Ariel and Luke had personally scouted.
From commoners and lower ranked nobles to high ranking officials, there was even a half Immortal among them.
But what they shared was their undying loyalty towards Ariel.

While Isolte is pondering the true meaning behind the “particular” in Ariel’s statement “rather particular sexual dispositions”, let’s take a look at one of those knights.

Part 2

He was born in a small village of the Asura Kingdom's Donati province.

He was a little slow and treated like a henchman by the other kids.
But his body was strong and he never got sick.

His father was a soldier who protected the village and spent most of his days away.
There were very few soldiers so he didn’t get many days off and ended up spending most nights away from home.

When the boy was around 5 years old, his little sister was born.
She was a sweet girl just like her mother.
But the mother had a difficult time recovering from childbirth and passed away.

The boy cried.
He was hit by his friends and he was stung by a bee, but the stupefied boy continued to cry.
The crying boy’s father said this to him:

“Right now you can cry, but when you stop, you have to protect this girl.”

Holding his little sister, the boy looked up at his father and nodded many times over.
And that day, the boy stopped crying.

The next day the boy began faithfully practising to realise his father's command.
The command to protect his sister.

To protect his sister he began to guard the entrance to his house.
The whole day, holding a hatchet he found in the corner of the house, he stood at the entrance.
Only when his sister cried did he leave his post, in order to comfort her.

Seeing his figure, his friend laughed.
“The hell you doing?” he said.
“You can just watch from inside,” he said.

The adults of the village had said this to him:
“If you want you can leave your sister to us.”
“There are already plenty of children at our house so one more won’t matter.”

But the boy firmly refused to hear it.
He had them teach him how to take care of her, but he would not entrust his sister to anyone else.

One day.
An incident occurred at the village.
In the middle of the night, something had snuck into the barn and laid waste to the livestock.

From the footprints’ size it was judged to be a wolf.
Soldiers were running around telling the villigers to stay inside and lock their doors.

The next day.
A single house had been attacked.
The wolf had gotten in through who knows where, instantly bit off a child’s head, and escaped through a window.
After waking up, without knowing what happened, the family simply chased after the blood trail.
And on the outskirts of town, finding children’s clothing in a pool of blood, they went crazy.

These two incidents made the soldiers realise that they were mistaken in their judgement.
It wasn’t a wolf that was hiding in the village, but a magic beast.
It was only the size of a regular wolf, but it was a cunning magic beast.

The perpetrator was a magic beast.
Its head and hind legs were that of a wolf’s.
But from the shoulder down it was a monkey. It could walk on two legs and climb trees.
It was only about the size of a large dog.
But its head was oddly large in comparison to its body.
And that head gave it intelligence.
It was a mutated magic beast.

The magic beast who wondered what humans tasted like, was lurking in the wheat fields as if ridiculing the frightened villagers, searching for its next target.

But the adults didn’t return to the field that day.
The wolf chased after them but looked in the wrong place.
What was left in the house were two children.

The magic beast, licking its lips, used its monkey arms to climb the chimney, descending into the fireplace.

The next day.
The boy’s father who had finished his patrol saw a trail of blood coming from his own house.
“This can’t be,” he thought with an ashen face as he ran inside his house. He soon found the cruel corpse of the figure left behind.

It was the corpse of the magic beast.
The corpse of the beast with its head smashed open.

And between the corpse and his daughter was his son, standing imposingly, clutching his hatchet.

He could see that the beast was dead.
The boy was covered in blood and his arm was broken.
But that was all.

The magic beast was small but it did resemble a wolf.
It was several times bigger than the boy.
And in spite of that, the boy had beaten it to death with his blunt hatchet.

He had protected his sister.


That was the boy’s —— who would later become known at the North Emperor Doga —— first battle.

Part 3

From thereon the life of the gatekeeper Doga continued.
When he was ten, he protected the entrance to his village.

Right before the teleport incident, a wild stampede of magic beasts occurred .
They swelled forth from a forest in the kingdom and some number of villages suffered.
Some were even engulfed and completely destroyed.

Doga’s village was among those attacked.
But Doga, with his dauntless courage and hatchet, diverted the swarm.
It’s said that he defeated nearly a hundred beasts during the battle,
And although he had defeated so many, his father had passed away during.
Doga simply stood bewildered next to his father’s body.
The knights who saw Doga’s courage recommended him to the imperial garrison.
Seeing Doga hesitate for the sake of protecting his sister, they said this:

“Listen boy, we’ve been separated from our families and move all over the kingdom protecting villages.
In other words, we protect the very country itself.
As long as the country is at peace, our families can live in safety.
Meaning that protecting the country is protecting your family.”

At that time, the simple-minded Doga didn’t understand those words.
In the end, what caused Doga to move was money.
After his father had died, he needed money. He had heard that he would be able to get the money for the two of them to live in the Imperial capital and decided to move there.

Doga entered the Imperial army.
He was in charge of protecting a small gate cutting off the slums from lower class residences.
In case those of the slums tried to riot, it would create a bottleneck preventing them from swarming.
Besides the fact that passage was prohibited at night, it wasn’t a particularly important gate.

He and his sister had been allocated a single room.
It was small, but it was home.
He would commute from there to his post each day and man it from dawn till dusk and sometimes even all night.

Doga was a simple man, but he had a strange charm to him.
At first the other soldiers didn’t look kindly towards a ten year old working with them and there were many who harassed him.
But due to his honest personality and his resolute attitude towards his sister, his co-workers began to relax somewhat and in about a year’s time began to recognise Doga as a comrade.

Two years later.
One night, a certain girl ran towards the gate he was guarding.
The girl clung to Doga and asked him to save her.
While Doga was hesitating, a group of men with harsh glares appeared and yelled, “Hand us the woman!”.
Doga was bewildered and had no idea what to do.
If Doga’s watch partner Hans hadn’t been dozing off, he probably could have come to a decision.

The woman, seeing Doga confused, quickly ran towards the gate.
Doga immediately grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her back,
Because passage is prohibited during the night.

But in that instant,
Sensing that the woman was trying to run away, they gave chase.
Doga swung his battleaxe.
He had gotten the axe as a farewell gift from the village blacksmith.

All of them died.
Seeing Doga covered in blood, the woman wet herself and sunk to the ground.

Hans woke from the noise and was taken aback by the scene before him.
“This is bad,” he thought.
Doga, who had killed them all, would be punished.
And he, who had been dozing off, would also be punished.

While thinking that, with his face ghastly white, he went to confirm the bodies.
After seeing their faces, he realised that they were members of the violent thieves’ guild that had mixed in with the lower class citizens.
The knights stationed at the slums were lacking manpower and couldn’t do very much to them.

But Doga had annihilated them all.

Doga was promoted.
From a soldier who protected the entrance to the slums,
To guarding the gate that connects the lower and middle class districts.
And for some reason Hans came with him.

Doga continued to protect that gate for some time after that.
Through rain and wind he continued to protect it.
Even as he grew up he continued to protect it.
Hans had saved the simple Doga.
Eventually, Hans became the person who understood Doga the best.

And in that time, his little sister grew more and more beautiful and married Hans.
Or maybe, Hans had been aiming for Doga's sister.
But to Doga, it didn't matter either way.
Because, although Hans was always sleepy, he wasn't a bad guy.
For his sister's sake, Doga bore witness to their vows to Saint Millis.

And Doga was alone.
Now that his sister was married, he thought about how he had completed his father’s order to the very end.
There wasn't any need to guard the gate anymore.

But Doga continued to guard it.
Through rain and wind he continued to protect it.

One day,  massive news spread like a wave all throughout the capital.
It was declared that Ariel Anemoi Asura would be crowned Queen.
For several days, festivals continued throughout the city.
Doga and his comrades were excited and Hans was jumping for joy.

But a soldier's work increased during a festival.
Their guard post was moved from the middle class district to somewhere else.
The kingdom was recruiting temporary civilian soldiers, so real soldiers like Doga were given much more important duties.
And in turn, their wages increased.
Doga and Hans thought they could use the extra money to buy his sister something nice and worked hard.

On a certain day before the coronation.
Due to some twist of fate, Doga was stationed at the back door of the palace.
It was a fairly disused door where occasionally someone with a permit would come through.
Hans wasn't with him.

Doga was with several other soldiers.
A single man wearing a worn-out armour and holding a long pole came along.
He said:

"Could you let me through here? I'd like an audience with Her Majesty Ariel."

Of course the guards refused him.

"You may not pass without permission! Show us your permit!"
"I don’t have a permit, but I'd like an audience with Her Majesty Ariel."
"You may not pass without a permit! Leave!"
"Then it can't be helped. I thought I might have darkened Her Majesty's authority on this auspicious day, I'm glad I came through this back door."

The man said that and began to force his way through.
His pole moved like magic and the other guards were defeated in an instant.

Only Doga remained.
No matter how many times the pole was thrust at his vitals, Doga continued to stand and protect the gate.
But at the same time, Doga's axe didn't hit the man even once.
Having his axe miss was a first for Doga, but he continued to single-mindedly swing.

The man was extremely happy to fight Doga.

"Wonderful! For a man like this to be buried here!
Right, For your sake I'll give up on this gate.
I'm really sorry about this.
As an apology, would you be willing to become my disciple?
You'll definitely become strong, you have talent!."

Doga didn't understand what the man was saying.
Hearing that the man was going to give up on the gate caused Doga to hesitate for an instant
It truly was but an instant.

And when Doga awoke, the man was still there.
Doga picked up his axe and stood to protect the gate.
But he was surrounded by a large number of soldiers.

"Well good morning! I protected the gate in your stead!"

That was how Doga met Sándor, North God Kalman the Second, Alex C Ryback.

Part 4

The day he became Sándor's disciple, Doga returned to his house, collapsed on his bed, and slept like a log.
Thanks to the healing magician that came with the reinforcements, there wasn't a single wound left on him.
But his battle with North God Kalman had completely emptied his nearly bottomless stamina.
It was the first time in his life that he had collapsed from exhaustion.

After sleeping for two straight days, he awoke.
Next to his bed was his crying sister and a relieved Hans.
And Sándor with a happy look on his face.

"Morning! Now my disciple, let us be off!"

Sándor used his tremendous strength to lift Doga to his feet and after Doga had put his armour on, he began to drag him out to who knows where.
Doga, without knowing what from, asked Hans to save him.

"Sorry Doga, but it doesn't seem like a bad thing.
I don't have any idea what's going on either but I think it's a pretty prestigious offer.
So well, why don't you just give it a try? Work hard, I'll be heading out now."
"Ok. Brother, good luck."

Although Hans had seemed to understand the basic gist of it, Doga was still confused.
But he didn't have the strenght to go against Sándor, and they headed to the gate he guarded yesterday.
After they reached the gate, Sándor took out a rather gaudy permit and they passed through.

And before long they were in the inner palace.
While Doga was constantly surprised by the dazzling rooms around them, Sándor had noticed something.

What they had seen was the beautiful golden haired woman in front of them.

"Is that him?"
"Yes Your Majesty!"
"I'd like to talk to him."

Coming out from behind Sándor, Doga stood in front of the woman.
The woman was extremely beautiful and above all sublime.

"I am Ariel Anemoi Asura. What would your name be?"

Doga didn't know that name.
Doga was on guard duty and hadn't heard her name at the coronation ceremony.
And of course, he hadn't seen her before either.

But once he realised, Doga fell to his knees.
Somehow he felt that he had to.

"I-I'm... Doga."
"Why did you become a soldier?"
"M-my dad told me to pr-protect my sister..."

Doga wasn't all that good at talking.
In all his life, although he listened to plenty of other people, he had never said very much.
But the words that came from his mouth had convinced Ariel.

"To protect your sister, a splendid goal."
"B-but, Hans is already protecting my sister, so Hans and my sister are together and um,"

The soldier next to Ariel had added "His sister is married to a soldier named Hans".
Doga didn't know, but it was Luke.

"So she doesn't really need me to protect her anymore..."

Doga looked downhearted as he said that but Ariel smiled.

"That is incorrect Doga."
"Hmm?"
"You cannot stop looking after her."
"What do you mean?"
"Hans has become your brother, so you must now protect both your brother and your sister. Your work has doubled."

Those words caused Doga a shock.
He hadn't thought about it like that before.
But she was correct.
Hans addressed Doga as a brother.
Hans was his brother.
If he was to protect his sister, he would obviously protect his brother.

"R-right! I have to keep protecting them!"
"Yes, but with your current method, it's possible that you may not be able to protect them both."
"Wha!? Why?"
"You are strong, but your arms are short. If those two are to fall into danger, it's possible that you may be too far to help."

Doga looked at his hands.
He remembered his father's death.
He had been close by, but had been killed by a beast outside of Doga's vision.

"Th-then, what should I do?"
"Protect me."
"Wha?"
"I work for the sake of the country to improve it. To protect me, is to protect this country. And to protect the country is to protect those two."

Doga didn't understand.
Why would protecting the person in front of him, protect those two?
He had no clue.

But the way Ariel said it had left him with no doubt.
And at the same time, he remembered something similar someone once said to him.
The knight who had recommended him to the imperial capital.

“Listen boy, we’ve been separated from our families and move all over the kingdom protecting villages.
In other words, we protect the very country itself.
As long as the country is at peace, our families can live in safety.
Meaning that protecting the country is protecting your family.”

Back then, he hadn't understood.
Because he didn't get it, he moved for money.
But now, he somewhat understood.
Because Doga is protecting something in a completely different place, Hans and his sister can live in peace.

"Doga. Would you swear loyalty to me and protect not only I, but the kingdom as well?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Then Doga, I now appoint you a knight."

That day, Doga became one of the Seven Knights of Asura.

Part 5

Since then, Doga had continued to protect the Final Door.

The Final Door, the entrance to the King's chambers.
At times he would head out on Ariel's orders.
Once a day, not too far from Ariel's door, he would receive instruction from Sándor.
And once a month on his day off, he would go visit his sister and Hans to eat with them.

When Doga wasn't around, someone else was protecting the king's door in his stead.
Much of the time it was the『King's Greatshield』, Isolte Cruel.

But it wasn't like that to start with.
He was appointed a knight and presented with a shiny set of golden armour.
And after taking his post he did not move.
After he had decided to protect it, he couldn't leave it to someone with half hearted resolve.

For an entire month, he left the door to no one other than Sándor.
If he wasn't ordered to rest by Ariel, he would have continued standing there without even eating for days.
He would check anyone approaching the King's chambers.
Gender had no relevance, and would even take the smallest fork.

And in that time, someone had joined the Seven Knights.
The『King's Greatshield』, Isolte Cruel.
She was the head instructor and in the time before Ghyslaine joined, was the only female member and eventually took the job of Ariel's personal guard.

One day.
Sándor, for the sake of finding members to join the Golden Knight Order, was to search the kingdom.
Without Sándor, Doga had no replacement.
After an entire month of standing without break, Doga collapsed.
Sándor decided that Isolte and Doga were to have a match.

At that point, Sándor named Doga a『North King』.
Although Sándor had only recently started teaching him, Doga was quite skilled.

But it goes without saying, it was Isolte's overwhelming victory.
Doga's battleaxe was warded off like a gentle breeze. Time after time, he was countered and eventually defeated.
It was to the extent that if they had been using real swords, Isolte could have killed him in an instant if she wished.
Doga continued to attack Isolte with his inexhaustible stamina but couldn't lay a single finger on her and was defeated.

The slender woman who was like a flower, continued to blow off the axe that was bigger than herself and continued to attack.
As Doga took that hit over and over, he had to admit:
She was someone fit to protect the door in his stead.

And at the same time, he understood,
This woman was a graceful and lovely flower.
Something he could not touch.


Doga had fallen in love with Isolte.

Part 6

"You seem pretty down lately..."

Doga was having dinner with his sister's family when he was told that.
In front of the simple looking Doga were a number of dishes on the table.
And on the other side of the table was his sister and her husband Hans.
And sitting across from Hans was their daughter.
Doga was sitting there blankly filling his mug of wine to the brim.

"Are you not feeling well?"
"...Wh-why?"

Having perceived unrest in Doga's heart, Hans pointed to the food.

"Eat it all up alright."

Looking at it, it was obvious to see that he hadn't eaten much.
It was his beloved sister’s cooking.
Normally, Doga would be wolfing down his food in silence, swallowing enough to make his cheeks bulge with a happy look on his face.
Along with his favourite wine.
He loved wine that was normally reserved for special occasions, so much so that he would even drink it here.
And for that reason, Hans made sure to always have a barrel ready at their house.

But for some reason, he hadn't even eaten half his food and the way he was drinking his wine seemed somehow worn out.
To those who knew Doga, something was definitely off.

"If you aren't feeling well, why don't you go see the castle's healers? You're already a knight, if you ask, surely they'd do that much for you? Well at least you don't look too bad."
"...?"

Doga puzzlingly tilted his head.
He himself didn't realise something was off.

"If you're tired, why not get a little more rest? I know that working as a guard for her majesty is a prestigious job and all. But if you were working too hard and collapsed, it wouldn't be a joke... Well, I can't really imagine you collapsing though."
"Yessir."

Doga nodded and started eating.
But he was definitely odd.
It was, as always, delicious.

But the second the food wont down his throat, he felt something off.
Normally, he would chew and swallow so fast, you'd want to tell him to slow down.
But not this time.
Each time he reached to put something in his mouth, a feeling of rejection welled up from his stomach.
As if he was full, but much more unpleasant.

The wine was also odd.
It wasn't all that nice.
He'd normally look refreshed after taking a swig, but now he looked somewhat sick.

"If something happened, tell us."
"..."

Hans began to press the silent Doga for answers.

"Mr. brother-in-law, no, Doga. Ever since we were stationed together in the slums, I've always been grateful to you. If you can't even let me help you... How can I keep living with myself? How could I show my face to saint Millis?"
"Yessir. But, I dont get it either."
"Lately, has there been something at the castle? Anything? Tell us."

Doga raised his head and saw Hans's serious look.
Doga, like he was told, started to look back in his memory and slowly began talking.

While guarding the Final Gate, a cat had wandered by. He had just finished his lunch and it made him happy.
While walking through the town in his armour, a young soldier had called out to him "You're my idol!" and it made him happy.
While he was guarding the Final Gate, Isolte had come by and when he took a leaf out of her hair, she thanked him and it made him happy.
When Sándor was teaching him a new technique and complimented him, it made him happy.
When he was walking back to the soldiers' lodgings, and a carriage driver nearly ran him over yelling "Beat it dumbass!" but Luke came out from it and even walked him back and that made him happy.
When he arrived at the training ground on Sándor's orders and Ghyslaine and Isolte were there, it made him happy.
When he heard the rumor that "Isolte might be getting married" from a Royal Guard, it didn't make him all that happy.
When he was guarding a party, Isolte appeared in a dress and looked really pretty. Seeing her in a dress made him happy.
When he saw her dance with some guy he didn't know, it didn't make him very happy.
When he saw some nobles' sons talkin’ smack about Isolte behind her back, it didn't make him very happy.
When he saw Isolte walking around with some cool guy it made him sad.
When Isolte--

"That's enough, I get it. I understand everything."

Hans interrupted Doga's story.
He had basically understood.

"So basically, you've fallen for this Isolte."
"..."

Doga's face began to redden.
He didn't know why he ended up telling them, but Hans was exactly right.

“And then, when you heard Isolte was getting married and saw that she was in favour of it, it was a shock to you.”
“Yessir.”

Having it said to him so bluntly, Doga head fell even further.
It seemed that Hans was right again.

“I get it.”

Seeing Doga’s reaction, Hans understood.
It really seemed like his brother-in-law had fallen in love.

And at the same time, Hans began to remember his first love.
The only daughter of the greengrocer who lived next-door in his hometown.
There was an age gap of 5 years, but that didn’t change the fact that they were childhood friends. She had looked after him since they were little.
She was a kind, reliable, and pretty older sister.
He had liked her since age 5.
He dreamt of marrying her in the future.
When he grew up, he would apply to be a soldier and after his income stabilised, he would propose. Or that was the plan.
When Hans was 12 she married the butcher's son and the two of them succeeded his family business.
Hans knew him and by Hans’s judgement, he was already an old man.
Although they were only separated by 5 years, so he really wasn’t that old.
At first he didn’t believe it.
He was well built, but by no means handsome.
He thought she was against it and would eventually return to him.
But after a year she was curling close to him with a happy smile on her face, and after seeing the large bulge on her stomach, he finally understood. That night, his pillow was wet with tears.

Perhaps, if he had confessed his feeling for her earlier, he wouldn’t have had to have felt like that.

But that’s not to say he was unhappy right now.
If he had married her, he wouldn’t have married Doga’s sister.

Doga’s sister was both like and unlike him. She was a sweet and confident woman with a small figure.
And the product of their love was now eating Doga’s food in his stead.
She was a healthy child.
Hans was confident that he was the happiest man in the world.

But he had that happiness because he had suffered heartbreak.
Because of that experience, the moment he realised he was in love with Doga’s sister, he took action.

It may have looked frivolous at first.
But from beginning to end, Hans had been completely sincere with Doga’s sister.
And he was that much more serious in his gatekeeping job.
Since the day he confessed, he didn’t touch another woman.
And because of that, he had triumphed over his rivals and managed to obtain what he had today.

For that reason, Hans said:

“Go propose to Isolte right now.”

Hearing that, Doga looked up, confused.

“No, you don’t need to propose, being friends is fine. If you can tell her you like her, that’s enough.”
“…”
“If you sit here and do nothing, you’re going to regret it.”
“…But.”
“Don’t think about trying to keep the status quo.
You’re a member of the Asura Kingdom’s famous Golden Knights.
You’re what we garrison members aspire to be.
Raise your head with pride.”

Doga thought for a while.
Doga had no idea how his lineage matched up to Isolte.
But in appearances, Doga knew.
The impeccable beauty, Isolte, didn’t match him.
He had thought a lot about that.

“It’s fine if it doesn’t go anywhere, just tell her and get rejected. At this rate, you won’t even be able to give her marriage your blessing.”

But with Hans’s words, he reached a conclusion.

“Yessir!”

He would confess to Isolte.

―○●○―

Translator Notes and References

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