The Day of Release, the Gates Opened
On the day of his release, the gates tore open.
Five years had already passed since gates first appeared across the Peren Empire and monsters came pouring through them. As the Chief Gatekeeper of Gate Management Headquarters, I had been showered with honor and wealth.
The reason was simple. The moment the gate monster raids began, I started training disciples. One after another, the countless students I had taught spread across the country and, just as I had, began sealing the gates shut.
After about three years, we extinguished the mana of every gate in the Peren Empire. Because of that, the gates still existed—but no more monsters emerged from them.
The method of erasing a gate’s mana. I knew it because I was a transmigrator inside this novel. More precisely, because of the trait I had gained through that transmigration.
Legendary Gatekeeper [EX]
You can seal the mana of a gate once it has been cleared.
Still, I’m lucky I at least have a trait like this.
I had suffered endlessly with nothing but my bare body—but my disciples, who trusted me and followed me, and the Empire that made it possible to clear every gate within its borders, filled me with endless gratitude. Without them, sealing the gates would have been impossible.
For three years I sacrificed myself for the Empire, and for two years after that I devoted myself body and soul to the nation, constantly on edge over whether new gates might appear.
What I received in return was dismissal based on a false report.
One of the disciples I had trained reported me for sexual harassment. Of course I wasn’t worried. I had never done any such thing, and I never doubted that countless people—above all the Empire, and the citizens themselves—would stand up for a man who had devoted himself to the nation.
What came back to me instead was a merciless reality.
Across the communities of the Peren Empire, endless posts and comments mocking me began to flood in.
I stared blankly at the community terminal and muttered,
“How could they do this to me…?”
I had devoted myself to the nation. For people whose names I didn’t even know, I had cleared gates and risked my life to protect them. And yet, on the word of a single girl with not a shred of evidence, they could already treat me as a criminal and drive me into a corner. They could dismiss every achievement I had ever made as if it had never existed.
“Defendant. Focus.”
I lifted my dazed head and looked ahead. The courtroom of the Peren Empire was about to deliver its verdict against me.
“Although the defendant committed an unspeakably heinous crime, he continues to deny the facts and has failed to submit any evidence proving he is not the perpetrator. Using his powerful office to coerce a disciple—such methods and conduct are exceedingly vicious. Therefore, this court sentences the defendant to three years’ imprisonment.”
Bang!
I shot to my feet and shouted.
“Why… why do I have to bring evidence that I’m not the criminal? Common sense says the person calling me a criminal should be the one bringing the evidence, doesn’t it? I’m innocent. I’m innocent—so what kind of proof am I supposed to produce for that?! What, exactly?!”
The judge turned a question on me.
“Then are you claiming the victim falsely accused you for no reason? Why on earth would she? There is no reason for that. The victim’s statement has been consistent from the beginning, and she gains nothing by reporting you. She says the situation was so urgent she could not gather evidence—how can you blame the victim for that?”
“How am I supposed to know something like that?! I’m going insane here! I’m a victim too!”
I howled with injustice, but that only seemed to rile the judge further.
“Judging further dialogue impossible, this court hereby sentences the defendant to three years’ imprisonment and concludes the proceedings.”
My legs gave out and I sank to the floor. Far off, Belin—the very person who had handed me over to the Empire’s court—flashed a grin only I could see and left the courtroom.
“How the hell is that a victim… She’s smiling… she’s fucking smiling…”
Those were my last words before I went to prison.
“Belin. You got the result you wanted. But why did you report Leos? That guy never even laid a hand on you.”
“Oh my, didn’t I tell you?”
A-class Gatekeeper Kozarik nodded.
“Yeah. I just helped because you wanted me to.”
“Kozarik really is sweet. You always listen to whatever I say.”
When Belin looked at him with eyes full of admiration, the man scratched his nose, his cheeks flushing. Watching him, Belin finally answered.
“Why I reported him? Simple. Orders came down from the upper ranks of the Empire.”
“From above? To you?”
“Yeah. The Empire asked me to destroy Gatekeeper Administrator Leos’s public reputation and image. They want to wipe out the entire department, but public opinion of him is so good they can’t just shut it down.”
“I never got any separate orders…”
“Of course not. We’re both personnel dispatched by the Empire, but when it comes to wrecking the image of a man who sacrificed everything for the nation, there’s no one better than me. Pretty face, good body—someone anyone would find attractive, right?”
“That’s true, but… what do you mean you’re the perfect fit?”
“It makes the story sound plausible. A beautiful woman like me files a sexual harassment report with nothing to gain—and when people dig up my photos and check? My words start looking credible. Even a man who devoted himself to the nation like Leos could lose his head over someone like that. That’s the idea they get. You saw the communities, right? Look at the comments. There’s no evidence, but they’re spreading my pictures around and screaming that Leos is obviously the culprit.”
“Incredible. Belin, you’re really something.”
“Something, nothing.”
Belin took out a communication artifact and contacted her superiors in the Empire.
“I’ve confirmed the job is done as instructed. You know the payment is as we discussed, right?”
“Yes. We’ll send it at once.”
Then Belin asked, a note of unease in her eyes.
“I did it because I was ordered to, but… is this really okay? Smashing all those gates was mostly Leos’s achievement. Feels weird saying this after I sent him to hell, but if monsters start pouring out of the gates again, things are going to get very bad.”
The man on the other end of the line laughed heartily.
“Don’t worry. It’s been three years since the gates closed. Surveys already show monsters won’t be coming out anymore.”
“Well… I’ll trust you for now. Please send the goods quickly. You know I’m in a hurry. I need them right away.”
“Of course. I’ll send three Elixirs—one more than we originally agreed.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Afterward, Belin quietly looked up at the sky.
“Well… maybe I feel a little sorry.”
Kozarik asked her,
“What did you say, Belin?”
“Nothing important. Let’s go.”
Belin and Kozarik left, and a great deal of time passed after that.
Spring, summer, autumn, winter turned over again and again, and at last the day of Leos’s release arrived.
“Haa…”
After leaving prison, Leos stared blankly at the sky.
If only everything had been a dream. If only the world had just ended instead. He was thinking that when—
Crack… crack…
The empty air began to split, and unlike the blue gates he had known before, red gates started forming in an instant. People who had no idea what the phenomenon meant walked the streets as usual. A few pointed up at the reddening sky and muttered among themselves.
“What’s wrong with the sky? Some kind of dust storm?”
Most dismissed it as a natural occurrence or something trivial—but Leos, who knew exactly what this was a harbinger of, kept his eyes fixed on the heavens, barely able to breathe. Before long, the man was certain it was the phenomenon he had feared.
Fuck… Red Gates… Red Gates are forming again.
Leos sorted his thoughts, then ran straight for the bunker the Gatekeepers had once used—now abandoned and left to rot.
The first day of his release.
New gates began to open across the Peren Empire.