The Manic Tyrant and his Monster Tree

Ugly?

"Do you see that?"

Caesar tilted his head sideways and looked at him innocently, "What do you want me to see?"

"..." Is he the only one who is worried about the wall? Why can't this man give a better reaction? The neighbor really did not understand the thoughts of Caesar.

"Just look at the wall. It is very clear that it was destroyed from your side. Don't you have anything to say?" The neighbor asked in exasperation.

Caesar lazily looked at the wall, which was very clear to any naked eye that it was rammed into from this side of the wall, before he replied with a very very lazy, "Ohh."

"..." The neighbor was dumbstruck by the lack of reaction from the man, "Ohh? What do you mean by ohh? Are you an idiot?"

To his furious question, Caesar didn't even care to reply as he casually looked at all the trees and vines around him. He looked very proud when his eyes were on them as they reminded of the powers of Hearthe.

The neighbor felt like he was punching a cotton wall, when he saw the lackadaisical reaction.

He then gritted his teeth and looked at the damaged wall once again. His mind flashed with the image of the wall from the other side and his anger grew higher, "You damaged my wall and don't want to take any responsibility? Dream on!!"

Caesar looked at his neighbor and blinked his eyes twice in confusion. When did he say that he would not take the responsibility?

Though he did not say anything, since it was his Hearthe that destroyed the wall, he would be very much willing to take the responsibility for her actions as her Father.

But his reaction made the neighbor think that he was acting innocent and was trying to shirk the responsibility.

"You, how dare you? You want to…" the neighbor grabbed onto Caesar's collar and glowered in anger. Before he could finish his words, he felt a slimy feeling covering all over his legs.

He felt uncomfortable all over at the weird sliminess and released Caesar's collar before trying to take a step back.

The keyword being 'trying'.

The grip on his foot was so tight that he couldn't move his leg no matter how hard he forced himself.

While trying to move, he lowered his head to look at the culprit.

By the time he lowered his head, a huge head came near his own making him scared witless.

He lost balance and fell to the ground at once.

The slimy body that resembled a snake was now totally wrapped all around his body as the face was nearing his own even more.

The face looked weird. It did not resemble the face of a snake or any other creature. Instead it had the mixed features of a human and a bug.

The face was wrinkled like that of an old man and the color was dark like red mud.

The combination made the face look even more hideous than the slimy feeling of its body.

The neighbor couldn't help but shriek and crawled away from Hearthe's tight grip.

It was really a miracle how he got rid of such a tight grip. Maybe it was the power of the adrenaline rush caused by the fear.

Once he was out of her grip, Hearth did not attack him any more and crawled backwards before she curled around her Father's foot timidly. Though she looked timid, her eyes were glaring at the neighbor, showing that she was there to protect her Father if he were to attack him again.

The neighbor got furious when he looked at her eyes but he did not dare to attack her either.

He felt ashamed for his unmanly position on the ground and slowly stood on his feet, before clearing his throat and taking another step backwards in order to stay away from the weird looking creature.

He then looked at the calm and collected Caesar, only to feel more frustrated than ever.

Yet he did not raise his hand nor voice in order to not affect the curled up creature before he spoke in a hushed voice, "Caesar, what is that thing, exactly? Is that the thing that crashed into my beautiful wall?"

Caesar's eyes darkened when his cute and adorable daughter was addressed as a thing. Yet he tried to control his anger towards a mere stranger and calmly nodded his head as a reply to his last question, though he did not understand why the man was calling a stupid wall as beautiful while his adorable daughter as a thing.

He controlled all his anger so that he would not scare his daughter, who still looked timid around his legs.

Now all he wanted to do was throw this man out of his house fast so that his daughter would no longer be scared like this. He liked his daughter's happy and playful side better.

Not knowing his thoughts, the neighbor said, "It looks ugly."

"..."