"Why do the locals need religion when they have their Sovereign to provide for them" is basically what Mendicant has stated. If that's not an atheist statement, then it's a statement that proclaims him to be a god-king. Vice versa.
It's neither statement.
It isn't Mendicant saying he is a God, and it isn't Mendicant saying he's a God, it's him saying God's are irrelevant to Aurvandil even if they are God's, much like how Haktoo is irrelevant even though she has what can only be described as Godly powers. There can be God's, Mendicant doesn't care, they are no different from any other natural phenomena we can observe in the world of Battlemaster, of which there is an exceptional amount. From Daimon's, to monsters to magic and the blight, exposure to such things have only bred contempt for them as far as Mendicant cares. And as a powerful Monarch, he feels he doesn't have to care and why should he? He has every reason to believe God's are irrelevant by their own choice or by their impotence in the affairs of Aurvandil, and he has every reason to believe he stands high enough to be immune to such trivial concerns.
To the people arguing over Atheism yes there were atheists in the Medieval era, and there were quite famous and open atheists, including one particular English King who made it clear the religion was his bitch and not the other way around, though I forget the exact king right now. There were plenty of somewhat popular philosophies in Medieval Europe that were quite clearly "Atheistic" by some measure or other, it's a popular misconception that you'd be immediately burnt at the stake for being a non believer, considering the wealth of historical evidence of non believing knights and kings. But, Mendicant and by extension Aurvandil aren't atheist, we have different paths of religion, and for a long time Aurvandil held a lot of religious temples in all of our lands until the religion itself collapsed thanks to the civil war. Though, Aurvandil don't view Mendicant as a God-King, which be insulting to Mendicant at best.
