While I also find this whole 'the name of the village becomes your surname once you leave' thing interesting, why didn't they know the name of the village before? Is it special/important in some way?
Normally the protagonist unknowingly collects a harem that follows him, but here we also have the king who makes sure Lock won't miss out on any potential candidates XD
The mom is the real mastermind after all. Gen is just a pawn to her, she clearly doesn't hold Gen's dad in a high regard, Ms. Shiba is but an obstacle to be cleared, so that leaves only Esemori as someone who could reliably face against her.
A new challenger approaches! And this time he actually is worthy enough to be called a challenger, unlike some other goons who tried to mess with Tak before.
I love the character development in Mugai. Though in this situation Yukimura's predictions are questionable, because Mugai can't cover both sides anyway, so him going to either east or west doesn't change that much, since the other side is free to advance. Not to mention that since Yukimura...
I know readers always have it easier when seeing things like "that person obviously is evil", but I love how he needed parallel thinking, a special skill, to come to a conclusion something is wrong.
Jinwoo is so angry even his shadow soldiers tremble! I've been waiting for him to beat this guy up for a long time. This is going to be so satisfying!!