****(POV)

This man is insane. Completely insane. What is even crazier is that the more I listen to him the more captivated I become.

All my life I lived it as the Sun Young Master. The one that had to be more brilliant than any other. The one that people envied the most. Yet the fact is I have spent my entire life toiling to reach the expectations people had of me.

It all started when I was younger. I was about 6 years old when they realized my affinity for light magic. That and also fire magic. Put simply I had a great affinity with any magic related to the Sun.

The Light Citadel quickly ushered me in and crowned me their champion. I trained hard day after day. My only free time when I was asleep after collapsing from exhaustion. You would expect a faction that has light in it to be joyful and warm.

It is quite the contrary. New disciples are quickly taught that to slay evil and protect this world from the darkness one needs power. It all makes sense when you think logically about it.

I learned quickly to worship Hellios. I was told that the more devoted I was the more power I would obtain. All a give and take relationship. For me, that part always seemed strange. Our God calls himself a sun deity. The sun gives energy continuously without ever asking anything in return.

I always wished the sect could become like that one day. Doing things, not for profit or power, but just because it feels right. Of course, I know that is just me being a utopist.

This world works like this. We revere gods, they give us power and then we kill the followers of the other gods for even more favor. This is a never-ending cycle of violence. Even a peaceful sect just minding its business will at some point be attacked by some other god minions.

This is the cruel reality of this world. All gods are the same. It is all about choosing carefully one that aligns slightly with one's ideals. At least the sun god doesn't start warring madly and has a strict code on who to target.

Or at least that's what I thought. I truly believed it was the same everywhere. Then appeared this guy out of nowhere. As I'm traveling with some merchants anonymously he simply swaggers toward us. Then he gets turned away rudely.

He seems slightly angry about it but he leaves nonetheless. Still, as soon as I see him something tells me he is not ordinary. The way his clothes were all torn and destroyed makes it believe that he just fought to the death.

Yet he doesn't seem to have any injury either and the two animals following him are in perfect health. Not only did he not sacrifice his beast companions to save himself, but they seem smart enough to follow him without any order from him.

Is he perhaps a tamer? Wait no that wouldn't make much sense. A tamer would not fight for his creatures, it would just stay behind. Something about him is weird for sure but I'm not sure what.

When I get curious it consumes me. I cannot think or do anything else until I have satisfied it. This is one of my flaws. Because of that, I then decide to go after him.

When I stumble upon his resting spot, I am bewildered. All of them just laying there lazily. Isn't he worried to be attacked at night? Apparently not.

Then he gets oddly excited about me making a fire for some reason. Also, he does not tell me his name, addressing himself as a nameless wanderer.

Because of that, I guess he is a follower of the wanderer god. These guys are usually pretty nice except for the fact that they are all broke and can't pay for food. But this wouldn't be an issue as his two pets go hunting. At that point, I am already skeptical about the small wolf going against big monsters, but then the donkey darts off too. Since when do donkeys hunt?!

Imagine my surprise when both come back carrying the carcasses of rank 3 monsters. How?! How does a donkey even do something like that?!

That's when I learn that this donkey is in fact a disguised unicorn.

This is amazing! Really amazing!

We then eat in silence. The food is tasteless and doesn't compare to even what the lowest of disciples eat at home. The wanderers could gain to be pickier, to be honest. Well, it's in their nature. Right, I could fill the silence by talking about his god.

I get ready to hear about a god I am already knowledgeable about. I just want to keep the conversation going after all.

But the answer I get is not was I was expecting. At all!

Not having to actively worship any god, I didn't know this was possible!

Not having to slaughter others to gain power, how does this system work?!

Making it through sheer effort and will no matter what!

Being able to decide your own fate!

Everything sounds so idealist so far. Too idealistic to be possible sadly.

But then he keeps going. Developing on how one should answer to threats. He goes on and on about it, but it can be resumed to this. Make your assailants even regret being born.

That is when I notice something very peculiar. He both believes in the gods and doesn't believe in them.

He is certain of their existence and that they are truly powerful beings that reside in the god realm. That he knows. He also doesn't try to hide the fact that the path he is proposing to power will be a long arduous one that may or may not pay up in the end.

At the same time, he doesn't believe in the gods. Meaning, he doesn't believe these entities to be deserving of the title of gods. In his eyes, they are mere mortals that somehow became strong. He argues that otherwise, they wouldn't show such greed in their incessant quest for followers.

This….

I don't know how to react to all of this ….

I just have one question at the end of his tirade.

Where do I sign up?!