Golden Age (4)

With Bazuso dead, the raiding mercenaries flood the castle, and a band of latecomers who saw the duel wonder among themselves whether Guts rivals their own leader, Griffith, before they withdraw. Guts collects his bounty for both the assault and the giant's defeat, but when his paymaster offers him permanent service and a squire's rank, then grabs his shoulder, Guts turns on him and warns the man never to lay hands on him again.

Some distance off, the mercenaries who witnessed the fight lounge in a field and spot Guts walking alone. One of them, Corkus, leads a group to kill him and take his earnings, but the ambush unravels as Guts cuts down the first attacker, Dante, and maims the second. On Griffith's order his second-in-command, Casca, intervenes, planting a crossbow bolt in Guts' arm as he moves on Corkus. Guts refuses to yield, and Casca charges him on horseback until he drops her by fatally wounding her mount, stunned to discover his opponent is a woman.

Though Casca is the finer swordsman, Guts gains the advantage and puts her on the ground, to the onlookers' surprise. Before he can finish her, a spear hurled by Griffith lands between them. The watching soldiers relax, certain of Guts' defeat, as Griffith asks him to lower his sword. Guts refuses and takes a saber through the shoulder, and the crowd cheers the commander for downing him in one stroke. Guts drags himself upright to attack again but collapses, his final sight being Griffith lifting his helmet to let long white hair spill over his shoulders.

Guts refuses a paymaster's offer of full-time service and a squireship. Corkus leads a failed ambush that Guts breaks, killing Dante. Casca engages Guts and is bested, and Griffith intervenes to defeat Guts with a single saber stroke, revealing himself as the band's leader.

The chapter delivers Guts' first meeting with Griffith and Casca and marks the start of the Band of the Falcon storyline within the Golden Age Arc. Griffith's dramatic entrance and one-stroke victory establish him as a figure of near-mythic skill. Judeau is also introduced among the mercenaries.