Loot House Incident

The Loot House Incident is an event that took place on the very day that Natsuki Subaru was summoned to the world. It is the primary conflict of Arc 1, and it is the event that marked the start of the story of Re:Zero.

On the day of his summoning, a young girl named Felt stole a certain item from one of the Royal Selection Candidates, a certain silver-haired half elf. In an attempt to save her, Subaru, who had learned of the power of Return by Death and knew of the fate that awaited both the thief and the girl, confronted them in the Loot House, located in the slums of the Kingdom of Lugunica’s Royal Capital, and they fought with their would-be assassin, the infamous Bowel Hunter.

Although it required the assistance of the Sword Saint, Reinhard van Astrea, they were able to emerge victorious. This incident would be the start of many major changes across the world; as a result of this major incident, Subaru would come to be heavily involved with the Royal Selection, while Felt would be recognized as its fifth and final candidate.

Background

The Fourth Candidate of the Royal Selection

One day, Margrave Roswaal L. Mathers had learned through his Book of Wisdom of the existence of a boy who would one day appear in the Royal Capital with the power to challenge and overcome fate and that he was destined to fall in love with a silver-haired half elf named Emilia. Realizing that this boy was necessary to accomplish his goal of reviving his long deceased teacher, Echidna, Roswaal began making preparations to retrieve him. One day, several months after the deaths of the royal family of Lugunica and the beginning of the Royal Selection, Roswaal traveled to Elior Forest, where Emilia resided, with the intent to involve her in the Royal Selection as its fourth participant. Upon meeting her, he was faced with the Great Spirit Puck, also known as the Beast of the End, who was acting as both Emilia’s contracted spirit and her guardian. Suspicious of the man’s intentions and refusing to let him take Emilia, Puck fought with Roswaal for half a day. After their battle, however, when Roswaal dropped the Dragon Insignia in her hand, causing its jewel to glow, signifying her worthiness to become a Dragon Maiden and the Kingdom’s monarch, and enticed her with the Dragon’s Blood that was stored away in the castle, which was said to have very potent healing properties which could potentially melt away the ice coating Elior Forest, Emilia decided to accept his offer, and she and Puck followed him back to his manor so that she could be educated about the world around her.

The Theft of the Dragon Insignia

A few months later, with the arrival of Subaru imminent, Emilia and one of his maids, Ram, were sent to the Royal Capital. Afterward, Roswaal hired Elsa to have the Dragon Insignia stolen from Emilia, giving her a cloak that could completely nullify one burst of magic. In the capital, Elsa then hired a young girl named Felt, an expert thief, to retrieve the insignia for her, and they agreed to meet in the Loot House. Meanwhile, Emilia and Ram were split up from each other, resulting in Emilia wandering around town with Puck. At one point, Felt managed to find a good opportunity to snatch the insignia, and she escaped, Emilia chasing after her.

The Tumultuous First Day

Shortly before the theft, Natsuki Subaru, who had bought some things from a convenience store near his home, found himself summoned from his world to the Royal Capital, much to his shock. As he wandered around, realizing that he wasn’t given any kind of special ability typically granted to isekai protagonists, he was assailed by a group of thugs, who he later refers to as Ton, Chin, and Kan. Shortly after that, Felt, escaping from Emilia, ran past them, and Emilia and Puck, who had arrived shortly after, helped and healed Subaru. Smitten at first glance and given by her the false name of Satella, he started to accompany her after she explained her circumstances, eventually leading them towards the Loot House, where Felt was likely to have gone. Inside, Subaru, instead of finding Felt, found signs of conflict, a large amount of blood, and the corpse of an old giant on the floor. Immediately after, he was fatally wounded by the giant’s killer, and when “Satella” came inside, she was killed. As he promised to save her, however, he died.

Despite experiencing his death, however, Subaru awoke in front of an appa seller he stood in front of earlier that day. Shortly after, he was confronted by Ton, Chin, and Kan, but unlike before, he knocked each of them out. Confused but realizing that something bad was about to happen, he rushed to the Loot House, where he encountered the old giant, Rom, still alive, and shortly after, Felt. Intending to give back the insignia they stole, he entered negotiations with them, when Elsa appeared. With Elsa joining the table, she offered her compensation to buy the Insignia from them, but because Rom had determined that Subaru’s phone, which was claimed to be a meteor, would fetch a higher price, Subaru won at the negotiations. However, after he replied to Elsa about his intentions, Elsa revealed herself to be an assassin, and she killed everyone in the Loot House.

After this, Subaru awoke in front of the appa seller again and saw “Satella”, who he called out to. However, insulted, she rejected him for using the name of the Witch of Envy, resulting in Felt stealing from her, and shortly after, Subaru’s death by the hands of Chin. Awaking again in front of the appa seller, he realized what he was experiencing and dubbed it Return by Death. Again, like in each of the previous loops, he met Ton, Chin, and Kan, and instead of ignoring them or beating them up, he called for help, summoning Reinhard van Astrea to the scene and scaring them off. After thanking him, Subaru made for the slums, leaving Reinhard, who was curious, behind. On the way, he encountered Elsa, and after separating from her, he met with Felt. After a short conflict with her, he managed to get her to listen to him, and they made their way to the Loot House once again.

Battle

Inside the Loot House, Subaru used his knowledge from the future and used his phone as a bargaining chip to try and obtain the Insignia, attempting to get the group out of danger before Elsa could arrive. However, before he could make a deal with them, Emilia appeared in front of them, her magic at the ready as she demanded her insignia back. Subaru was surprised by her presence and realized that she had gotten to the Loot House much sooner compared to when he met her in his first loop. This led to a misunderstanding on Felt’s part that this was a trap he had set up. However, before the conversation could go any further, Subaru noticed Elsa’s attack and called out to Puck to shield her, allowing him to block Elsa’s attack with a shield of ice.

As Elsa resolved to kill everyone, Subaru distracted her long enough to allow Puck to use his magic against her, which she shielded with the cloak she received from Roswaal, using up its one and only use. Afterward, Emilia and Puck attempted to land several strikes on her, and after she was able to evade or block the attacks, her feet were frozen to the ground, allowing Puck to land a larger barrage of attacks all at once. However, she had cut the soles of her feet off to escape, and as his time ran out, Puck was forced to pull back as a condition of his and Emilia’s contract. Forced to defend herself from Elsa’s onslaught of attacks, she was eventually knocked off balance and pushed back, which allowed Rom to act and attack Elsa with his club. However, she was able to deal with him easily, and if not for Felt throwing a blade at her, she would have killed Rom.

As she decided to attack Felt, Subaru jumped and pulled her out of the way, and Emilia soon returned to face Elsa. Afterward, Subaru grabbed Rom’s club and helped distract Elsa for Felt to escape, kicking away an attack that Elsa had aimed at her. As the two distracted her, Felt ran through the slums calling for someone to help when came across Reinhard in a flower field. Offering his assistance, the two returned to the Loot House, and busting through the roof, Reinhard stopped Elsa from killing Subaru. As he took over the fight, he left Rom’s care to Emilia and Subaru, distracting Elsa long enough that Emilia could heal him and save him from danger. Eventually, once she fully healed Rom, Reinhard used up the proxy sword he was using to devastate both Elsa and the Loot House.

Just as things were starting to calm down, however, Elsa emerged from the rubble intent on killing Emilia, and Subaru, still holding Rom’s club, blocked her attack. As she threw a blade at Reinhard and made a threat to everyone in the room, she made her escape. Afterward, after Subaru assured her that he was fine, he introduced himself to Emilia, and as a reward for what he did, he asked for her name, which he received. However, just a moment later, the wound in his stomach that he received when he blocked Elsa opened, and Subaru blacked out.

Aftermath

After Subaru fell unconscious, Emilia healed him just enough so that his life wasn’t in danger. This prompted Reinhard to question their relationship, but she claimed to not know him, much to both of their shocks. Though Reinhard offered to take him back to his place, Emilia decided to return with him to Roswaal Manor to understand what his intentions were. After discussing what would happen with Felt and Rom, Felt decided to return the Insignia as thanks for saving them. However, after witnessing its glow in her hand and realizing her features were a rough match for the Lugunican Royal Family’s, Reinhard knocked her out and decided to take her back to the Astrea Manor, where he intended to hide her in secret until the day she would be revealed as the fifth and final Royal Selection Candidate. Soon after, Ram found her way to the Loot House, and Emilia and Reinhard went their separate ways.

Meanwhile, Elsa retreated elsewhere in the Royal Capital, intending for her wounds to recover. However, as they weren’t recovering like they should have, Meili Portroute had to retrieve her and patch up her wounds at their makeshift hideout. After she recovered, she went out into the town and caused bloodshed to gain some new clothes, and with Meili’s help to change their hair colors with part of a witchbeast, they were able to escape the Royal Capital without being caught by the knights, who were out looking for Elsa. Meanwhile, Meili revealed that she had received a task from Mother to cause havoc near Roswaal Manor.