Comrades in Arms

Once the charged silence between him and Casca passes, the whole band crowds around Guts in delight at his homecoming. Casca cuts the reunion short, ordering the camp relocated now that Silat has learned its position. At the new site, the mercenaries fill Guts in on the ruin he missed: a day after his departure, a despondent Griffith was seized, the group was branded outlaws, and their ranks shrank to under a fifth of their former size.

They recount how Casca guided them clear of Midland's trap and became their acting leader out of necessity, and that Griffith's place of imprisonment has since been located ahead of a planned rescue. Guts remarks that the world he has returned to still feels like home, explaining that his seclusion while training in the mountains kept him ignorant of their troubles. Pressed by Judeau, he admits that nothing besides swinging a blade rings true for him.

Guts learns the fuller picture as well: the wounds Casca took from Midland's cavalry left her unconscious for three days, and throughout that coma she cried out for both Griffith and him. Later, her camp duties finished, Casca seeks Guts out and asks him to come with her to a quiet spot beside a waterfall. A flashback places Griffith among the recalled events, and the moment sets up the private confrontation that follows.