Elementals

Come morning, the group readies to set out for Enoch Village with Morgan, who will not fight. Gathered in a room, Schierke prepares them for battle against trolls. She traces the talisman, a small rune, over Guts' Brand, which will keep it from drawing nightly spirits for a few days before it must be redrawn. To Serpico, Isidro, Farnese, and Casca she gives ointments that sharpen their view of the Astral realm while dulling their ordinary senses. She then heaps a pile of weapons and armor on a central table.

These arms carry the blessing of good spirits, letting their bearers fight Astral beings without magic of their own. Several house Elementals, spirits that answer to wind, fire, water, and earth in the Astral realm; Ivalera amuses a baffled Puck by noting that the wind spirits, the sylphs, are his own ancestors. Serpico receives the sylph cloak and sylph sword, both home to wind spirits: the cloak eases his dodging, and the feather-bladed sword strikes distant targets, which he tests by cleaving a candle across the room with a blade of wind. Isidro gets the salamander dagger, housing fire Elementals, and consecrated berries that drive trolls off; his stab into the table erupts in flame. Casca and Farnese each take a silver chain shirt, with Farnese also given a silver dagger, silver being potent against malicious Astral beings. Schierke urges the recipients to believe in the Elementals, since their strength grows with their wielder's faith in the Astral world.

She offers Guts the Axe of the Gnomes, but he declines, too accustomed to the Dragon Slayer to trade it away; as he turns to leave, Schierke senses something strange about his sword. Outside, she explains that Flora's mansion sits on a deep layer of the Interstice bordering the Astral realm, which is why the party's wounds have healed, their physical bodies drawn closer to their ever-perfect Astral forms. Only grave injuries persist, which is why Guts' lost arm, eye, and old scars remain. Many magic users, she says, dwell on this same layer, keeping ordinary people from stumbling into their domains.

Flora comes out to see the party off. Guts refuses Schierke's suggestion of leaving Casca behind, wanting to guard her himself, and asks a nervous Farnese to watch over her, which lifts the girl's confidence. The party departs. Back inside, Flora finds the Skull Knight waiting, their manner hinting at a long history. He has come to ask a favor, warning that Guts may be a crucial piece of the world ruled by causality.

Schierke marks Guts with the protective talisman and equips the group with Elemental weapons: the sylph cloak and sword for Serpico, the salamander dagger and consecrated berries for Isidro, and silver gear for Casca and Farnese. Guts refuses the Axe of the Gnomes. Schierke explains the mansion's Interstice location and the healing it grants. As the party leaves for Enoch Village, the Skull Knight visits Flora to ask a favor regarding Guts.

This twenty-one-page Millennium Falcon chapter ran in Young Animal issue thirteen on June 28, 2002. It arms the party with the Elemental-infused equipment central to the coming troll campaign, clarifies why the mansion heals its guests, and closes on the Skull Knight's ominous interest in Guts' role within causality.