Retired adventurer Belgrieve thought he was done with excitement…but his peaceful life is upended when he discovers a baby abandoned in the nearby woods. As her adoptive father, he teaches his new daughter Angeline everything he knows about the adventuring life—a past he had thought long forgotten after he lost his leg in battle. Angeline idolizes her father and wants to follow in his footsteps, so she leaves home for the big city. As the years pass, she ascends the ranks, eventually becoming renowned as an S-Rank adventurer: the Black-Haired Valkyrie. But it turns out that being the best comes with its own struggles, and she can barely catch her breath between battling fiends. With everyone turning to her for rescue, can Ange get out ahead of each new disaster and finally reunite with her beloved dad?
One reason I enjoy this:
Honestly, though, it’s an earnest story. A dad loves his kid, his kid loves him back. The dude is strong and kind and despite having lost a leg early on his journey to becoming an adventurer, he’s found himself some satisfaction in his family.
Big single dad energy.
The manga seems to display itself as something like a harem— girls on the covers, female-heavy cast, fan service… but the fan service is tame, the female heavy cast is mostly actual, capable female characters who purely view the main character as a father figure. Every time a female character is introduced to him, he basically adopts them. There is some pushiness in a few (harem-ish) but it’s denied on the grounds of “I’m an old guy and I don’t want this.”
It isn’t the usual power fantasy and yet in a way it is. On a surface level it fits. But. How do I put it? It’s precious.
There’s another story going on as well. The world is going to hell, and the one who seems to be the main character is actually one of two. The daughter is the other main character. She’s head-strong, gets homesick, and tries to live up to her dad’s expectations in being a good person. It gets her into trouble but at the same time it makes her so much stronger.
