Casca (2)

Casca dreams of first meeting Griffith, who leaves the choice of joining him entirely to her, and wakes before she can answer. She finds Guts crouched at the cave's mouth, having wetted a cloth for her and heaped leaves over her as a blanket through the night. When the shifting leaves reveal that he stripped her wet clothes, she brushes aside his explanation, strikes him, and flings pieces of their armor at him.

Guts snaps that only her being a woman spares her a blow in return, words that echo an earlier taunt from Adon and bring her to tears, since her sex was never her choice. His attempt to console her earns another attack, so he pins her easily and hands over his dry shirt. Settling at opposite walls, Casca laments that of everyone who might have rescued her, it had to be Guts, and he asks why she ever joined the Band of the Falcon.

Casca answers with her history. She grew up in a poor, isolated village near the border, heavily taxed and so short of food that going days without eating was routine, and often plundered by enemy troops. A passing nobleman offered her parents a fortune to buy her, and they agreed, sending her away. When he forced himself on her during the journey, she fled the carriage, only to be caught and pinned to the ground.

The nobleman's ear is suddenly severed, and Griffith appears astride his white horse. Rather than kill the man himself, he throws his sword to Casca and tells her to save herself; she runs the nobleman through, and Griffith steadies her trembling hands, sparking her devotion. As Judeau reports that he, Corkus, and Pippin have finished looting the carriage, Casca impulsively begs to come along. Over the others' doubts, Griffith lets her decide, and the young girl reflects that although he later praised her skill in a fight, it was he who first placed a sword in her hands.

This early Golden Age Arc chapter ran in Young Animal issue 12 on June 11, 1993. Told largely in flashback, it reveals Casca's origins and the moment her loyalty to Griffith was forged, laying groundwork for her role in the Band of the Falcon. Griffith, Casca, Guts, the lustful nobleman, Judeau, Corkus, and Pippin feature.