Saga Gouki

Saga Gouki(サガ・ゴウキ) is the former head of the Saga family and is now a companion of Rio after the events of volume 17.

Summary
Current head of the Saga family, one of the most ancient samurai families from the Karasuki kingdom, famous as the strongest samurai inside the Karasuki kingdom and its neighboring kingdoms, he's known in the battlefield as the Kishin, currently the father of four, Hayate two more unnamed sons and Komomo, he married his wife Kayoko more or less at the same time that he began to work as Ayame's bodyguard.

He was chosen for having a mock battle with Zen the day of his concession of the samurai title, after being able of winning just by a thin margin he began to strongly recommend him as a bodyguard for the royal family the same as him, after that the two and Kayoko, his wife would work together as Ayame's bodyguards.

Several months later her wife would get pregnant of their first son Hayate, something that made them unable of following Zen and Ayame to the exile as they wished and because having the two staying in the kingdom when Zen and Ayame run away would give more credibility to the lie of them escaping the kingdom against the king's orders.

After Zen's and Ayame's elopement he joined a group of elite warriors in charge of infiltrating the Rokuren kingdom and once there producing them serious damages and attacking its army's main force's back in the war while it was fighting against Karasuki's army in the national border, capturing and killing in the surprise attack a lot of important figures from the Rokuren kingdom like the prince that ordered Ayame's kidnapping and staged the plot for making her his wife.

Twenty years later, after receiving Yuba's letter from Hayate informing him of Rio's existence, he went to find Rio by the king's orders to verify his identity and, if necessary, telling him Zen's and Ayame's past.

After telling Rio about his parents' past he takes him to meet the royal couple, after Rio's first conversation with his grandparents Homura says to Rio to have a mock battle with Gouki expecting him to become Gouki's disciple after being defeated by him, so that Rio would have to live in Karasuki's capital and it would be easier for him to meet Rio, but unexpectedly for him Rio defeated Gouki and that didn't happen.

When Rio goes back to Zen's village Gouki is left in charge of delivering to him his grandparents summon from time to time, when Rio visited his house after the new year for seeing his grandparents her daughter Komomo somehow gained his permission for living in Yuba's house with Rio until he left again towards the stralh region, during this time Gouki would try to gain Rio's permission for him, Kayoko and Komomo being allowed to follow him in his journey along a group of ten anbus but Rio refuses.

In the WN after adding Shin and Sayo to their group Gouki would follow after Rio secretly, six months later his group arrived to the spirit folk's village where they would wait for the next time that Rio stops there, unfortunately for them when Rio arrives to the village a month later it would have been two months since he killed Lucius and their purpose of helping him with his revenge was impossible now.

In the LN, Gouki and his group followed him a few days after he left the Yagumo region and. Rio meets them again in volume 17, when He passes by Seirei no Tami village while going to visit Yagumo region.

Appearance
He has the appearance of a middle aged man, With long black hair, and wears a traditional japanese kimono.

Personality
He is a kind person, who was loyal to Ayame as her Royal guard. Unlike most nobles from other countries, He does not discriminate commoners which is shown when he was friends with Rio's father and him taking many orphans as his Disciples. His loyalty is shown when he followed Rio eventhough Rio rejected to take him as his retainer. He is shown to respect warriors.

LN Route
Gouki appears when Rio is in Karasuki's capital. Rio is accompanying the caravan from Yuba's village to sell the goods. During Hayate's visit, Yuba entrusted him a letter to deliver to his father. After the kidnapping attempt of Komono, Hayate successfully gave the letter to Gouki, who is clearly shaken by its content. He asks Hayate if he met with Rio and about his personality. It is implied that after Gouki goes to see Homura and Shizuku and asks the permission to investigate about Rio. He lets Hayate in charge of his domain and leaves with his wife and a few retainers to Yuba's village.

They arrive during the harvest festival and are welcomed by Rio himself who is wary of the group until they kneel down, showing no concern for their clothes. Rio leads them to Yuba's house. All of them have a discussion there. Gouki explains to Rio who was his parents: his mother was a princess and his father was her bodyguard, and both of them had to flee because of an accident during a war with another kingdom. Gouki asks Rio to come to the capital to meet his grandparents, the king and the queen of Karasuki. Rio accepts.

Rio return to the capital and share an emotional moment with Homura and Shizuku. They asked him about his past history and how his parents died. Gouki is very pissed when he heard about Lucius and his deeds. When Rio tells them he intends to take retribution against Lucius, Homura wants him to train under Gouki's guidance for him to stay a little longer in the Karasuki kingdom.

Rio stays a while in Gouki's domain and have a sparring match against him. Gouki is very impressed by Rio's martial arts despite his young age. Gouki utilizes an air slash, but Rio counters it with a wall of water. Gouki demands Rio to follow him in his revenge and to become his retainer. Rio refuses because he and his family won't be capable to keep-up with him, referring to his capacity to fly through the spirit arts. Gouki seems to give-up, but tries to use his daughter Komono to force Rio's hand. He sees the maneuver. Nonetheless, Gouki allows Komono to go to Yuba's village with Rio.

Gouki and his wife often visit Rio in the village, sometimes with Hayate. He helped the villagers with farming and Kayoko with cooking. During the harvest festival, Gouki participates in a wrestling contest and beats pretty much the men in the village. Kayoko is very pissed off that her husband's slack-off despite Rio is close. She threatened to punish Gouki until Rio told her he didn't mind Gouki's behavior.

Gouki heard Shin and his sister arguing about Rio. Shin tells him to get lost; Gouki finds out that Shin has guts and he likes it. He asked Sayo if she is in love with Rio and if she is ready to leave her village to pursue him. Sayo hesitates for a second and when Gouki is about to leave, he said that maybe he was mistaken about Sayo's feeling. But she stopped him and confirmed she was in love with Rio.

Fall arrives and Rio's departure is imminent. Gouki and all the villagers sees Rio off. Gouki does not try to stop him or convince him to stay. He wishes good luck to Rio.

Relationships
Rio: Gouki respects Rio as the son of the late Ayame (He was her bodyguard with Zen). He became aware of him when Hayate came back to the capital with a letter from Yuba, telling him that Ayame's son is searching for clues about his parents. After confirming his identity, Gouki was becoming more and more respectful towards Rio much to his embarrassment. Gouki is impressed by Rio's swordsmanship and his mastery of spirit arts and wished to become his retainer with his wife. In volume 17, when Rio is travelling to Yagumo region he meets Gouki, after requesting Rio to make them his Retainers which Rio didn't want to do. They became his companions at Rio's acceptance

Zen: Gouki was Zen's co-worker when he was Ayame's bodyguard. They went along pretty well. Zen was a commoner and it was Gouki who taught him how to behave to nobility and royalty.

Ayame Karasuki: Gouki worked as Ayame's bodyguard. He was very respectful to her because of her status as a princess, and also her personality (Ayame was a very caring character). When Ayame was forced to exile, Gouki wanted to follow her, but Zen and Ayame prevented it because the disappearance of Gouki and Kayoko would make the kingdom suspicious.

Homura Karasuki: Gouki is the best warrior of the Karasuki kingdom and serves under Homura. He is respectful toward his king.

Shin