This setup from the previous episode paid off here. Heinkel takes Felt hostage to prevent Reinhard from acting. This is already looking bad for everyone if Reinhard can’t act given Regulus seems mostly immune to damage with the damage he can take being easily undone as shown in Season 2, so Reinhard is probably the only one who can deal lasting damage to him. Heinkel is seemingly making it a point about talking about the succession of the Astrea family, but is it genuine or just seem weird mindgame?
Back at the Muse Company, they talk about the witch’s remains and conclude that it’s not the Witch of Envy’s since she’s alive. Wilhelm also revealed that while he was unaware of the origin of Capella’s name when that point was brought up there used to be a Emerada Lugunica who lived 50 years ago who was as ruthless as one can be and was feared by all. After that, Julius with Tivey and Ricardo with Hetaro communicate through their metia that Mimi is hurt ’cause their Divine Protection of Trisection caused them all to have a shared wound (If you recall from Season 1, their Divine Protection also allows them to do a powerful group attack when they all attack in unison). Capella makes another broadcast where she introduced herself and revealed her intent to kill the hostages, probably to goad them into acting, and it seems that the metia used for the broadcast can eat away at people’s minds and be used to force the citizens to stay in the city, making the situation much like a trap after all as Subaru feared in Episode 1. Garfiel eventually comes into the room distraught ’cause his unwillingness to run and flee led to Mimi picking up a serious wound from the shorter one of the strong Witch cultists who aren’t Sin Archbishops (Subaru remarked that it was a woman, and I’m not sure how they knew unless Garfiel surmised it was a woman since he got a few hits on her and knew from her build it was a woman, but I guess since they’ve cut down the episode length of Re:Zero’s episodes this season, they couldn’t fit that in aside from having Subaru say it’s a woman) when Mimi rushed back to protect Garfiel from the 4-armed Witch cultist and the woman, who apparently has the Divine Protection of the Death God, an ability in which wounds caused by people with that Divine Protection never close, which Wilhelm knew about ’cause he has a shoulder wound from her. When Kiritaka arises, he reveals when prompted that moving the remains of the Witch that died would destroy the city since it has a special power, which prompted Al to say like when Typhon drowned. I have more to say about this in a separate post given it seems he was the only one who knew whose remains it was. I do appreciate how high the stakes are in this arc given how a whole large city is in danger against multiple Sin Archbishops and a couple of powerful Witch cultists.
During that same time, Ricardo had seen how Garfiel was feeling down and afraid to look people in the eye and sincerely thanked Garf for bringing Mimi back as she would without a doubt have died if he didn’t. We know when Garfiel fought those 2 Witch cultists that his fear of death reared its ugly head again after he was struck by the 4-armed one, which was causing him to freeze up, and he swears that he’ll get his revenge after indicating that he blames himself even when nobody else would. As I speculated with my post on Episode 1, this fear will not be going away easily for Garfiel since it’s based on trauma. Garfiel likely would have wallowed in despair even if he didn’t have such a strong support group at this time, and it’ll be interesting to see him grow from this experience. Julius asked what Subaru would do, and it shows that Subaru has earned a lot of respect from others over his feats with defeating the Sloth camp of the Witch Cult with 0 casualties in the first season. It’s no wonder Julius thought Subaru was a wonder drug against the cult given how it looks to the average person who can’t Return by Death. Subaru usually has to die multiple times to get himself into a good position to affect events in a meaningful way, but others don’t see that, making it look literally astonishing that Subaru can come up with such pinpoint strategies for defeating the Witch Cult using info not publicly known. When they’re on their way to the government office where Capella is, Subaru asks whether Crusch can fight (the answer is as she’s still very talented as Wilhelm says) and does the same for Al, leading to him saying that he’s the only one guaranteed to hold them back after Al announces his intention to leave to find Priscilla. It seems Subaru still has much of the same issues with self-esteem he had in the past with this remark, and when Ricardo and Crusch protested that they feel reassured by him ’cause of his achievements, he is somewhat in disbelief, feeling a bit weird with the disconnect between his self-image and how others see him. I believe Re:Zero is a long story of Subaru growing to learn to love himself so that he can be a proper hero at the end of the story who does the world and its residents right, and it’s not character regression for Subaru to still have self-esteem issues when he has such deep-seated issues from his childhood as a result of him struggling in the shadow of his amazing father.
Interestingly enough, Al stated before he left that it’s possible that all the remaining Sin Archbishops are here in Priestella, and he warned them not to use their real names in front of Gluttony. This shows a level of familiarity with the Witch Cult that most people don’t have, and I have more to say about this in a separate post. Anyway, given what we know of current events, I don’t buy into Al’s excuse that Priscilla needs protecting as it doesn’t seem like she is engaging the Witch Cult at this time, so I wonder why he decided to bail right as the group was about to fight the Witch Cult.
After Ricardo indicated that he smells blood, and they’re about to engage the Witch Cult, Julius tells Subaru that he’s too worked up, which Subaru agrees with, and Julius says that if he were in Subaru’s position he’s not sure he could retain his composure either, to which Subaru says Julius is being creepy. It’s clear from Episode 22 in Season 1 that Julius considers Subaru a friend for daring to lead a force to strike down the White Whale when the all nations ignored the White Whale for centuries and ’cause striking down the White Whale was a long-standing goal of Lugunica’s Imperial Knights, which he thanked Subaru for, but Subaru still holds a grudge for the beating Julius gave him back then.
When they arrive at the grounds of the government office, they see a purple eggs with tentacle-like structures growing from the bottom on the ground where the corpses of the guards the 2 strong Witch cultists killed. I wonder if this is also one of Capella’s powers given she has been addressing people by calling them meat scraps in her broadcasts and even in her black dragon form that appears to be a result of a shapeshifting ability she has. The 2 strong Witch cultists easily stop the full frontal assault that Subaru’s group launched at them, and when Subaru bought time for Julius to use his powerful Al Clauseria spell against Cappella, Capella regenerated her wounds quickly, which could be yet another power of hers. Again after the bell tolls, Capella heads back into the office much like how Regulus and Sirius decided to stop what they were doing, which suggests that Capella was instructed to do so by her Gospel. If my theory that the Witch Cult Gospels are meant to guide the world down a particular path in which Subaru is the ultimate saviour, this development should theoretically play into Subaru’s hands.
Julius, Subaru, and Crusch decide to head into the building while they leave the 2 strong Witch cultists to Wilhelm, Ricardo, and Garfiel, and Julius uses wind magic to make an updraft that brings him to the top of the building that lets Subaru kind of shine by carrying Crusch as he goes through the updraft, using his whip to get them to the top of the building, but Subaru ends up being in a lot of pain ’cause of that due to his injury. It is revealed that there is another Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, Roy Alphard, and judging by his words, he might be the type to fast or skip meals ’cause it makes the the first bite all the more delicious the longer you go without food. He also indicated that he wants to eat and drink in excess, which seems somewhat contrary to Lye, who prefers eating people who make for delicious meals (and he can tell who is delicious through some unspecified mechanism). He also introduced himself by saying “We are the Sin Archbishop in the Witch Cult representing gluttony” much like Lye did, but given he has different eating tastes judging by what he said, the Sin Archbishops of Gluttony probably do not have a hivemind, which was one of the options I had speculated could be the reality of things. Roy and Lye share a number of similar physical features, so they are most likely siblings instead who happen to have a particular speech quirk where they talk about themselves as if they are a unit. Subaru is of course enraged and ready to go to war due to what happened to Rem after hearing that introduction from Roy.
The episode ends with Emilia being naked in bed under her sheets, and Regulus creepily asking her if she’s a virgin as that’s crucial to their future. Emilia not knowing what a virgin is made him make a hideous smirk, which shows he’s probably the type who wants his fill of virgins who will become his wives. What a disgusting and appalling guy. I’m looking forward to this guy being defeated as he’s just repulsive. It wouldn’t surprise me if his way of keeping his wives with him is through fear of reprisal.
The Re:Zero Season 3 Breaktime Episode 4 short also revealed that Beatrice is the one who’s keeping Subaru alive by being contracted to him since his gate being destroyed means he cannot regulate his mana, meaning he would explode without her.
To watch that Breaktime short, go to this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JNJqrwSQsg
KakoeiSbi provides an English translation once again in the comments section.