A party of 3 women looking for a hero

Question

I'm looking for a manga I've read in English in 2009-2010. I bought the first volume of it back then, but I fear I might've lost it somewhere and can't remember the name either.

It's set in a medieval fantasy world, and the protagonists are a man and 3 women: a priestess, a thief, and a warrior.

• The priestess has long fair hair and clothes like most other priestesses in manga or anime, and is pretty much like one would expect such a priestess to be.
• The thief appears to be the youngest among the girls, is also the shortest of them all, and has shoulder-long hair. She appears to be a good-natured thief, not the cut-throat kind.
• The warrior is quite tall and strong, even compared to men. She has dark skin and appears to be very tough. She doesn't behave much like a woman, nor does she try. She often spars with the male protagonist.
• The male protagonist is pretty much a standard male protagonist: strong and reliable looking. He is quite a pervert, though.

It begins with the priestess looking for the successor of a legendary hero while the thief and warrior were accompanying her, helping her search. Apparently, and according to the priestess, the hero's successor is supposed to be just like the hero of legend: strong, reliable, chivalrous, etc. In short, he's supposed to be the ideal, perfect hero.

After they find him, they quickly realise the truth: He's nothing like what they expected. He may be strong, and he even looks reliable from time to time, but he's actually an unrefined pervert. The thief and warrior regularly ask the priestess, if she's sure he's the hero, to which she admits — usually in tears — that she has her doubts.

When the priestess reports to the head priestess (the one who gave her the job of finding the hero), she complains about him not being at all what she imagined. The head priestess admits that he sounds exactly like the legendary hero she had been travelling with many years back. Whether the head priestess only admitted it in her head, or the priestess didn't hear/believe her, I don't remember.

I don't remember much else about the story. I do remember, however, that the women treat the hero with a bit of hostility in the beginning, due to him being a shameless pervert. He eventually manages to earn their trust, though. The priestess keeps praying to her God, hoping that she'd got the wrong guy all along.

Although I've only read the first volume, it seemed to be quite funny overall, though I wouldn't exactly call it a comedy.

What's the name of that manga?

Answer 1

That sounds a lot like Mahou Senshi Louie, released in the US as Rune Soldier. I haven't read or watched the series, but from the Wikipedia description:

• There's a blonde priestess, Melissa.
• A young thief, Merrill
• A tall, dark-skinned warrior, Genie
• The main character, Louie, is an idiot and a pervert.

From this picture, the cast seems to resemble your description:

The plot description on Wikipedia sounds just like your summary: the three girls are seeking a legendary warrior who turns out to be Louie, to their disappointment, since he's idiotic and perverted. Over the course of the series, they slowly come to respect him.

The manga was published by ADV Manga, which was in operation from 2003 to around 2010, so it's perfectly plausible that you bought it in 2009 or 2010.