The Great Gatsby, he had casually conferred on me the freedom of the neighborhood

Could you please tell me the meaning of "casually" in this passage from the first chapter of The Great Gatsby?

It was lonely for a day or so until one morning some man, more recently arrived than I, stopped me on the road.

“How do you get to West Egg village?” he asked helplessly.

I told him. And as I walked on I was lonely no longer. I was a guide, a pathfinder, an original settler. He had casually conferred on me the freedom of the neighborhood.

Thank you.