Hai Na's words startled Iver.
Hearing the grief in her voice, Iver had thought Sherlock had kicked the bucket early because of the butterfly effect... But after asking a few more questions, he learned that Sherlock had only been injured.
Hai Na did not know the specifics either—it was Sherlock who had called her and told her. Since Sherlock had previously exposed the Sweater Brotherhood, she had already mentioned the Alchemy Bomb to him after reading about it in the newspaper.
However, Sherlock had not answered her questions. He had merely told her that he was still alive, that she had to keep it secret, and then hung up.
Iver did not quite understand her explanation. So his first reaction was to call Edward and confirm it.
"—Yes, I know about this. More precisely, it happened yesterday afternoon."
In the inspectorate office not far from Royal Law University, Chief Inspector Edward Moriarty held the telephone in one hand and signed his name on a document with the other. "The timing was basically simultaneous with the attack on our side. It should have been those people from the Noble Red Society."
"...Mr. Sherlock was also attacked by a Greater Demon?" Iver was somewhat astonished.
How had Sherlock survived that?
"No—it wasn't. Take this to Vice Captain Assad and have him do as I said."
Edward covered the receiver partway as he spoke, then handed the signed note to the person standing before him.
Only after the sound of the door closing did Edward continue speaking to Iver.
"...Hermes was attacked with a bomb. The apartment he rented was bombed from outside."
"A bomb? Is Mr. Sherlock all right?"
Iver sounded worried. "How much explosive was there?"
"Quite a lot. It was basically laid in a circle around his apartment. But whoever