In the game world, being the ruler and the chief were two separate things.
All the creatures inside the space village respected the rulers because of the extraordinary powers all rulers could show in the space village.
It was not the same in the game world, as he could use none of the ruler's powers outside, and eventually, these guys would realize this. Then, they would only follow him because he would be the key that could take others out of the space village.
On the other hand, the chief was a position of power that all the creatures gave to someone among them whom they saw as capable of leading.
The chief was someone they thought of as their own; because of this, the chief would gain the blind trust of all the creatures.
He came to know all of this hidden information in his last life when he became a kingdom-level ruler, but by that time, it was already too late to change the view of his species.
