Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha Vol 4 Prologue

Crossing War of two Great Men

It's fine even if you don't or can't return the favour.

I will still stretch out my hand to you--...

Part 1

Demon Lord Leohart.

After the death of the previous demon lord Wilbert, dominating at the peak of the demon realm was the new young lord.

Although Wilbert, who was part of the moderates, had the reputation as the strongest, he had chosen to evacuate from the human realm in the previous war, choosing to have a stable and peaceful life. After the war ended sixteen years later -- loyal to their basic instincts, both the Conservative and the Radical Factions in the demon realm had a desire for revenge against the G.o.ds, harbouring strong resentment.

-- Until about a year before Wilbert's death, when the state of affairs in the Demon Realm had a big change.

The Moderates Faction that gained tremendous power because of Wilbert fell apart, and the Radical and Conservative Factions gained momentum.

In the end -- the two factions merged, and crowned the new demon lord, Leohart.

Him having the blood of the immediate family of the duke house which has produced generations of demon lords since ancient times, and also with his display of valour in the last war, was the reason that he was chosen. Back then, Leohart was different from Wilbert, who was better than him at controlling the situation of the demon realm. He had led the elite forces in the forefront of the front lines, and achieved excellent military exploits. Although there was another demon on the front lines with a similarly splendid record, contact with that demon was lost in the war. Hence, the honour of a war hero was given to only Leohart -- it was with this honour, that had gained him the support of the Conservative and Radical Factions, thus earning him the seat of the Demon Lord.

However, Leohart was still very young, and since he was hailed as the successor of the strongest demon lord Wilbert, it just isn't so awesome. Thus for the symbol of the authority of the throne, he specifically chose the biggest, grandest, and the most stately palace in existence in the demon realm for his use.

-- But right now, Leohart's palace had suddenly received an intense shock. No, that's not a metaphor. It was an intense vibration that had originated from the throne chamber, literally shocking the whole palace. Immediately--

"--------"

Leohart escaped from the chamber from a hole made in the wall by the attack, and landed lightly in the the atrium. Looking up, he saw a shadow coming after him, jumping from the collapsing wall. The hem of the jacket flapped in the wind and with the strike of a sword aimed at Leohart, this was the strongest man, the [G.o.d of War] from the last war with the hero tribe.

Jin·Toujou.

Leohart immediately raised the demonic blade in his hand, barely managing to block Jin's strike. Thung!... The sound of their swords clashing instantly sounded out. Due to the strength of the strike, there will be after-effects. And so with a boom, the aftermath from the attack spread out in all directions, instantly destroying the floor of the atrium and the other facilities in the palace such as the fountain and the pool. Presently--

"Hahahahaha!"

Leohart then brandished his sword against him. Jin then quickly retreated backwards with a backflip and faced him. Resting his large sword [1] on his shoulder, Jin bitterly smiled and said:

"Ah~ I've really dulled... Seems like imagining the actions and actually doing it are totally different..."

And pat his shoulder with the ridge of his sword. Just then--

"--Your majesty Leohart!"

"Are you all right your majesty!?"

Guardsmen hurried to Leohart's side, raising their magic weapons at Jin, at the ready to fire.

"Stand down. You are not a match for him."

But they were ordered to stop by Leohart's calm judgement. The elite troops guarding the throne chamber were all knocked out, so if the normal soldiers were to fight him, their aftermath could range from never being able to fight again to being a worthless sacrifice. However, when Jin looked around--

"...Is that so? Apart from you, there seems to be quite a few fitting the role of a hunter..."

Said like he has seen through the situation.

...Even his a.n.a.lytical surveying of the situation is so keen, this really is troublesome.

Right now, Balthier who was Leohart's trusted courtier [2] should probably be awaiting orders, hiding in either the crowd of the normal soldiers or the nearby buildings. Following that--

「（Your majesty Leohart -- may I ask what would be the best course of action to take right now?）」

Balthier, unsure, asked for orders.

「（...None of you make any moves. I shall be the one to take care of him.）」

And Leohart ordered the courtiers to remain on standby, since this was a rare opportunity.

-- After all, he was the one known as Jin·Toujou, the strongest hero.

In the past year -- Leohart had already eliminated many old demons who wanted to use him as a puppet for their own desires. But there were still many traitors, like Zolgear, who were still not yet eliminated;if he was able to force Jin to retreat here and now alone, he might be able to force the remaining Cardinals to become restless.

However...

Whether was it sympathy, or that he had a chivalrous heart, he didn't know -- Jin had taken in Naruse Mio and her subordinate Naruse Maria, letting them live together with his son. He had sent Lars to survey the situation, and Leohart had learned much from his reports. Could it be--

"...Did you to came here directly to settle your score with me in order to protect your son and Wilbert's daughter, Jin·Toujou?"

"Nope, I've had no such intentions. The reason that I came to the demon realm, was to personally witness the changes that had taken place after Wilbert's death, and to just take a rest at your place on the way... Fine, fine, this is a warning to you guys, to not let anyone to bully and take advantage of my son's intentions."

Even while talking, Jin's eyes were focused intensely on Leohart.

"And here I was thinking that after taking Wilbert's position, you would be reluctant to have the orphaned girl who has inherited his power. The one who doesn't know that she has the blood of the demon lord and have been raised as a normal girl, and could possibly have been a potential demon lord, must have been played around with very well. And for the other party to be a rather unexpected chivalrous young male hero?"

"-----Shut up."

Leohart rushed towards the Jin who was wryly smiling, maximising his speed by lowering his body. he reached high speeds in just a moment, and slashed at Jin.

--In the war, Leohart's skill with his blade had taken the lives of many from the Hero Tribe.

However, every single strike from him was being blocked, and what's even more surprising was that there wasn't any sign of swordsmanship in Jin's movements of his sword -- it was just purely reflexive brandishing of his blade that was nullifying Leohart's relentless swordsmanship, and their swords clashed countless times.

"For you to have this much skill, it really seems possible for you who is still this young to be on the Demon Lord's throne...additionally, you still have a pair of eyes. Ah... If that's the case, you really are someone noteworthy."

Jin gave a smile, like he had just understood the truth. Even if he was from the hero tribe, one had to wonder whether or not he was a human; a human was weaker than a demon by several levels. And for a human, he was past his prime.

Yet Jin was able to match up with the current demon lord, possibly surpa.s.sing him.

...This is really unbelievable... So this is Jin·Toujou?

Amazing -- he really was worthy the t.i.tle of [G.o.d of War]. Although he had partic.i.p.ated in the wars that lasted until sixteen years ago, Leohart had never had the chance to fight with Jin--

...To think that he had such power.

Many high-cla.s.s demons of calibre similar to Leohart, had suddenly disappeared in that war. And it was very likely that it was just like the rumours said: they had crossed paths with Jin. In the sixteen years that had followed, Leohart had studied to reach the even more advanced levels in martial arts. But still, it was likely that he would only be able to barely stand a chance against Jin.

After the war -- no. Even during the war, Leohart had never met such an opponent.

「----So what!?」

Leohart then let out a horizontal slash much faster and sharper than before, and made a different metallic clashing sound. Leohart's demonic sword, had broken Jin's gigantic sword.

"Ohoh--!"

Jin widened his eyes in surprise, and Leohart slashed at his back, but he jumped aside. Following that, Jin watched the cursed blade in Leohart's hand let out a black aura. [Hou~] He became impressed, and discarded his broken blade.

"I knew that wasn't just a normal demonic sword... But, should I say: [As expected from the Demon Lord's weapon]?"

"That's right -- you better don't blame me."

Leohart's demonic sword Loki, was the currently known most powerful demonic sword. Since their combat prowess was at a similar level, their weapon would probably the the deciding factor between victory or defeat.

"--Devour him, Loki."

As Leohart said that quietly with a low voice--

「————————」

The cursed blade emitted a dark glow in response. After considering the cohesion and influence brought about from defeating the strongest Hero, Leohart decided that he must do it at all costs, even if it means leveling the city.

That's why -- Leohart released the demonic blade Loki's limiters on its dark fluctuations.

-- A loud sound accompanied the atmospheric vortex that formed. The s.p.a.ce distorted in where the darkness surged out wildly.

This darkness could devour Jin whole, with the potential of leaving no traces of his body or spirit. A complete annihilation attack.

The battle has already ended -- at least, that was how it was supposed to be. Demon lord Leohart instead saw unbelievable confidence from Jin.

Before Jin·Toujou was devoured by the darkness, he let out an impertinent smile, and following that--

"Wooooooooooooaah!"

With a roar, green flames appeared on Jin's body, and he then concentrated it on his right fist.

With exaggerated movements, he used his right fist to ram into the darkness with seemingly brute force, shaking the area with a heavy ba.s.s sound, and rebounded the dark energy back to Leohart. Faced with the dark energy rebounding back to him at a much faster speed--

"-----"

Deciding quickly, Leohart sweeped his demonic sword upwards to the right, cutting into that darkness and splitting it.

In next moment -- an earth-shaking shock and [Boom] resounded.

The deflected and cut dark energy, smashed into the giant wall surrounding the city south of the palace..

The impact was so strong, that it forced the atmosphere in the atrium into a frenzy, with confusion and screaming everywhere. Just then--

All right... This should probably be enough.

It seems that his purpose for his visit was already accomplished.

-- No matter how ambitious Leohart is, or how dense the evil intentions and dark desires of those around him are, the expansion of the former demon lord's faction would not stop, and would eventually one day dissolve the Moderates faction.

The most effective way to stop this, would be to shake the trust of the demons in the new demon lord's ability and charisma, creating doubts within the subordinates. And that is the reason why Jin chose the atrium, which was teeming with normal soldiers onlooking, to have a 'meeting' with Leohart. With Leohart's attack just now, he had exhibited his power to the surrounding people -- but then he had instead received Jin's counter-attack.

Not only did Jin rebound Leohart's attack back to him, he had shown his existence of being a very big threat to the demons in the city.

This would probably enough to deter the higher-ups of the Current Demon Lord faction, and to create doubt and unrest in the subordinates

...I hope this would more or less scare them.

Just as Jin·Toujou was about to decide to slip away, something caught his eye.

"------!"

The next moment, he created a thunder-like shockwave.

In the explosive impact creating a confusion maelstrom, Demon Lord Leohart personally saw that.

Running across the atrium in an instant, Jin rushed into the falling rubble.

...Hoping to escape in the mess?

Beyond the city wall was a cliff, and under the cliff was a moat. It was likely that the water would ease the impact of the fall from jumping from the hole in the wall, so the chances of making it out safely was quite high. However, that was not accounting for the huge weight of the falling rubble. Based on his abilities, to scale the city walls was probably effortless, so why did he chose a rougher path? Just as he was thinking this, he saw it.

Jin, who was leaping into the air, reached out towards a small body within the falling rubble, and brought it into his arms. Wearing light body armour, it was probably one of the soldiers on the city wall. But rather, it seems like that he had taken Leohart's attack, and Jin who was an enemy had no obligation to help him. But--

...That is?

What Jin was hugging, was obviously a child. This caused Leohart to think, in the palace, there was a young soldier, who although was quite young, was highly praised and employed due to the power possessed.

Though young, he was still a demon, and since he was quite powerful, a mere moat couldn't possibly kill him.

But, if he was knocked unconscious from the large amount of falling rubble or from the shock from the explosion, then it was likely that he would die if he landed in the moat. Hence, the Jin who was in the air immediately took action.

"Woaaaaaaaaaaaahhh--!"

While holding the young soldier within his arms, he kicked upwards.

The huge pieces of the city walls above them then burst into smaller debris. With the explosion that had already echoed, Leohart was still in shock, unable to comprehend just what had happened. While still in the air, Leohart's eyes' met Jin's eyes.

"------"

Jin had was smiling like he was the winner -- and with that expression, they fell off the cliff together with the large amounts of debris.

"--Shall we pursue Jin, your majesty Leohart?"

Seeing the situation, Balthier asked from his side.

"...Don't bother. There isn't the need. Continuing the fight with him would be just a waste of energy."

But Leohart shook his head, and just ordered Balthier to check on the injuries of the soldiers and clear the debris.

Given the direction Jin and the young boy fell a last look, he turned around and headed back into the palace.

Part 2

Naruse Mio had woken up deep in the night.

Because in the dream that she had tonight, its contents were just too stimulating for her.

"...Why, why did I have that dream again...!"

Mio her face was already flushed with embarra.s.sment. Under the blanket, there was an incredible amount of heat; that dream had given her a hot body and sweet warmness that caused shivering throughout her body. But this wasn't something she could control, since in her dream, she had came across an event which caused her body to become hot -- the other party in her dream was none other than her master, Toujou Basara.

-- The contents of that dream, was something that took place after the fight with Zolgear, after Basara had forced a kiss upon her in Basara's room.

The Mio in that dream, had been on the receiving end of much ecstasy and pleasure on the bed in Basara's room, and had continuously climaxed once after another. But, that was something that Mio had already experienced. The thing that was the main source of her embarra.s.sment, was in fact--

...The fact that Yuki, Maria, Zest and Sheera was there...!

Just Basara himself was enough to make Mio yield, but yet even Yuki and the others had joined in on the fun. It was namely the shirtless Basara, and the remaining four that was wearing lewd underwear, that had slowly stripped Mio piece by piece, and had unscrupulously played with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, b.u.t.t, thighs and her other sensitive spots. Experiencing overwhelming amounts of pleasure, Mio had already lost control to the unthinkable extent, and had kept on shouting [Brother! Brother!] in her high times.

At the end, just as the lower portion of her underwear was about to be taken off, Mio had opened her eyes. Now, if she hadn't woken up, what exactly would've happened? When thinking about the dream--

" ! --Fuuuaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Eh... Wh-Why...!?"

A sudden sensation from her left breast caused Mio to raise her blanket to take a look, only to find Maria, who had sneaked under her blanket while she slept sucking on her left breast like a baby. Being able to undo the b.u.t.tons on her sleepwear without her noticing, she is indeed worthy of being called a succubus...

Having caught the culprit responsible for her having that dream, Mio silently raised her hand to deliver a blow.

"......Mama."

Maria's mouth released Mio's breast, and muttered. Thus...

"............"

Mio released a small sigh, and cautiously got up from her bed so as to not wake Maria up, properly b.u.t.toned up her sleepwear, and after tucking in Maria, she quietly left her room.

-- Mio headed towards the bathroom on the first floor. Having just had a terrible dream, she had released quite the amount of sweat. When she reached the first floor, she saw some light coming out from under the door shining into the hallway from the dressing room. [Did someone forget to switch off the lights?] While thinking this, Mio opened the door and realised that someone was already there. With only a bathrobe on, standing beyond the door was a girl possessing some sort of transparent beauty -- Nonaka Yuki. Probably having just finished taking a bath, her hair was still wet, and there was still some sort of steam-like moisture emanating from her body.

"......Oh, please..."

Upon seeing Yuki, Mio said unexcitedly. She wasn't unhappy with her for taking a bath in the middle of the night, since she had come to do the same thing. the problem she had was--

"When taking a bath, please at least lock the door..."

After the fight with Zolgear, Mio who was unable to sleep probably due to receiving a blow from Basara forcing a kiss in the bed in his room, could never trust her own rationality again, and gotten locks installed for the bathrooms on the very next day. To prevent Maria or Basara barging in while she was bathing, and to prevent any misunderstandings caused by Basara.

In the end, Yuki didn't lock the door, and didn't even hang the [Bathroom in use] sign.

"You're lucky that it was me this time. What if the one who had barged in was Basara?"

"If it was Basara, him seeing me isn't a problem... Or rather, I had hoped that it would be Basara..."

Yuki continued dejectedly,

"--We hadn't taken a bath together in a long time. I was really hoping that it would be Basara."

"Didn't we just have had a bath together four days ago?!"

The fight with Zolgear aside, it would have been only just three days ago. Mio gave a helpless sigh, faced with the scene where Yuki was undoing the knot on her bathrobe, and with her hand reaching towards the basket hold the blue--

"Stop right there."

"...Now what?"

Mio couldn't help but to stop Yuki who held onto a blue T-shirt. And the other party had a reaction like that she didn't know what she had did wrong.

"Why did you take Basara's shirt from the basket containing the dirty laundry?"

"If I don't wear something immediately after coming out from a bath, I'll catch a cold."

"Then wear your own shirt! Don't you have anything else?"

"...........Fine."

Yuki replied apologetically:

"I'll share Basara's shirt with you."

"That's not what I meant!"

Mio s.n.a.t.c.hed Basara's shirt away from Yuki's hand, and threw it back into the laundry basket. She then took off the only clothes she was wearing, her sleepwear and her faded panties, and also threw them into the laundry basket.

"If you say that you want Basara's to-be-washed shirt, at least get his permission first before coming to get it! Humph!"

And then Mio stepped into the bathroom.

"I can't stand it any more..."

Firstly, Mio began to wash away the sweat on her body, before checking the water's temperature. Fortunately, Yuki didn't forget to refill the warm water just now, so the water's temperature was pretty comfortable. And just like that, Mio lowered her entire body into the bathtub.

Just when Mio was about to let out a relaxed sigh--

...Ah, could she be...

Could the reason that Yuki came to take a bath right in the middle of the night, was that like Mio, she had released a lot of sweat -- having just had the same dream? Just as she was thinking this--

"Eh...!"

Uneasy, she suddenly felt a chill run through her. The contents of that dream with everyone drowning her in pleasure, that flashback suddenly returned to her mind.

...That dream, it couldn't possibly have happened in real life...right...?

The reason she began to get doubtful, was that whenever the aphrodisiac curse had activated, the sweet warmness would always blur her consciousness, and her rationality and sense of shame would always be eclipsed by the pleasure that Basara gave her, causing her sense of the line between reality and dreams to blur -- so, it wouldn't be strange if any dream she thinks she had were real.

However, Naruse Mio denied such a possibility. Reason being Zest who was left behind by Zolgear and Maria's mother had already left the Toujo residence and returned to the Demon Realm.

"..........."

After getting up from the bathtub, Mio washed her body, and thought about what happened on that day.

Two days ago -- on the day of the fight with Zolgear, they had quickly contacted the Moderates faction.

Yesterday, coming to the Toujo residence to fetch Zest and Sheera was the demon claiming to be Maria's elder sister, and an accompanying demon -- Yahiro Takigawa.

...Lars, was it?

At that time, Mio and Yuki had heard him introduce himself. The reason they had calmly accepted that fact was that Basara had already told them that Takigawa was a demon beforehand, and the cooperation they had before.

But...

The female demon that had come to fetch Zest and Sheera, had started a miniature war with Mio, Basara and Yuki. Even if it was for protecting her mother, Maria still had betrayed Mio, the demon lord and the moderates faction. That why, it was already expected that they would want them to hand over Maria.

They had already decided to reject that demand when it was made, and the female demon with the higher-ups orders had to unconsciously let it slide. The final demand that was made, was Maria's mother Sheera.

...It really was amazing.

The situation was resolved by just a smile. Even though Sheera's outer appearance was even more immature than Maria, when she had said that she would return just with Zest this time, the female demon had reluctantly let it slide, and showed signs that she would ask for further orders from the leader of the moderates faction for his judgement, the former demon lord Wilbert's brother -- Ramusas.

Also -- after Zest returned to the demon realm with the female demon, there was no objections from the Moderates faction for a.s.sistance to surveillance for protection. However, in the few days Zest spent in the house before she returned to the demon realm, she was very obedient to Basara; although they hadn't made a master-servant contract, it was like she had decided that Basara was to be her new master.

Not only was Zest very beautiful, her figure was also first cla.s.s, and she also had the charm of maturity that Mio and Yuki didn't have. In addition, before Zest was taken back to the demon realm, Basara had told her: [If anything happens, you are welcome in this house any time.] Right then she was looking at Basara with emotional tearful eyes. If they were left alone back then, it was likely that Zest would've immediately kissed him. If Zest really lived together with them, something bad would've happened.

But -- speaking of maturity charms, there was a even bigger threat.

...To think that an adult Maria would be so beautiful...

Mio had seen the appearance of a transformed Maria in the fight with Zolgear, and she couldn't believe that that beautiful thing couldn't possibly be Maria. As it seems that the chances of Basara losing his rationality was getting higher recently, it wouldn't be weird if something bad happened if he was cornered by such a Maria. Having said that, to transform into that appearance, the amount of power consumed wasn't small, so it would be fine if there weren't any chances in this short period of time.

「What a perilous situation, I can't stand it any more...」

After washing her whole body, she washed away the foam produced before leaving the bathroom. Not seeing Yuki anywhere in the dressing room, Mio took a bathrobe from the cabinet to put on, and--

"............"

Only to realise that shirt was missing.

"That idiot...!"

It appears that Yuki really went to ask Basara. If so, she can't dawdle here any longer. Entering Basara's room in the middle of the night, no matter if it was Mio wearing only a towel or Yuki wearing his shirt, no one knew what could happen.

But seeing Yuki ramp up her compet.i.tiveness, this had somewhat put Mio's heart at ease. That was because--

...It's great that a jealous Yuki does no good.

Harbouring ill feelings towards one's master will activate the curse of the master-servant contract, basically not making any allowances for any jealously; but now that they had made the same master-servant contract with the same master, it wouldn't be like in the past any more, as a jealous Yuki will now trigger the curse. The chances of having envy or jealously from seeing someone other than themselves receiving praise from their master or from watching others being spoilt, was the smallest of the smallest. But if having such jealously will still activate the curse, then deepening their relationship with each other will be difficult, draging down a master if there were many subordinates. Therefore, in order to deepen the relationship between a master and servant ion such situations, the magic that was born had naturally considered avoiding such a problem.

However, even if the curse does not activate, she couldn't just let Yuki do as she pleases.

And hence Mio hurriedly chased after Yuki -- only to then suddenly stop her movements. Mio had then realised, that Basara's shirt was still in the laundry basket.

".........!"

The liquids that was in Mio's mouth suddenly spurted out. Thinking that she had thought that Yuki had taken away Basara's shirt, she then began to undo the knot on her bathrobe, and brought that shirt to her chest--

...I-Idiot...why was hugging Basara's shirt so comfortable...?

Mio had done it differently from Yuki, having just secretly taken Basara's laundry, thus bringing about a tiny bit of guilt into her heart. This caused the curse to activate at a shallow level, causing Mio to experience pleasure from rubbing on Basara's shirt.

With her breathing becoming heavy and her heart beating faster, she then put on Basara's shirt. Just as Mio began to fidget due to the rising pleasure from attempting to feel Basara--

"--Mio-sama~ Are you all right?"

The door suddenly opened. Mio and Maria's sight connected, and--

「————————」

They froze mid-action. Yuki didn't lock the door when she left, naturally. Having only just realised her blunder, Mio's mind suddenly went blank--

".................Ah."

Maria put on a big wry smile, and closed the door.

Immediately -- the sounds of panting and steps rushing up to the second floor could be heard through the door.

"Wh-What's wrong...?!"

The sound of running up the stairs with her full strength caused Basara to be shocked into wariness. He hadn't awoke from that alone, as he was woken not too long ago by the bathrobe-wearing Yuki who had wanted to ask to let her wear his shirt. Just before, the Basara had sleepily nodded his head without knowing what he was agreeing to, which prompted Yuki to immediately begin untying the knot, causing Basara to attempt to stop her with all his might and ask her to return to her room. Not knowing what happened this time around, Basara got ready for battle -- and heard through the door from the hallway:

"BasaraBasaraBasara! Listen to me, Basara! Mio-sama just had a wet dream! And not only that! She also kept babbling and letting out high-pitched sounds! She left the bed at a time that I didn't know, seemingly to wash off her sweat, and ended up doing unbecoming things in the bathroom! Mio-sama, right after her bath, had taken Basara's shirt that was in the laundry and was letting out lewd soun........................................................................

"Uh... Oi, what's with you, Maria?"

Just as he quietly left his bed at the sudden visit, there was a fl.u.s.tered answer from behind the door:

" No-Nothing, Basara. Maria, what a strange dream you had...did you sleep yourself silly?"

"Umm, but... I think I'm still hearing some strange m.u.f.fled sounds--"

"Is there something wrong with your hearing? We still have cla.s.ses tomorrow, don't go to sleep too late. I'll return to my room now. Maria, you should get some quality sleep, or you'll be sleeping yourself silly again."

[Good night--] With Mio leaving these words, the sound of her footsteps towing a great weight faded into the distance.

Although curious as to what was the scene behind the door, the sound of dripping beyond the door brought about the mood from a horror film, causing Basara to not dare to open the door.

Maria often made many jokes, and Mio often habitually meted out punishments to her.

"Well... Everything's probably fine, I guess...?"

No one would probably notice the sea of blood on the hallway when they open their doors next morning -- right?

Translator Notes and References Jump up↑ A sword with an especially gigantic blade Jump up↑ A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and the social and political life were often completely mixed together