@HDMI
I went back and reread chapter 1 - the dots connect. That shit actually makes sense.
The sacrifice, the nearby villagers' awareness of Jaryuu's lair, the dwelling of the legendary evil dragon being void of other monsters... hell, we never learn the little vegan dragon's 'name' - not even speaking his own name in the 3rd person or something like that.
The little vegan dragon is actually Jaryuu. I was actually convinced at some point that Reiko was some kind of incarnation - well, that's actually half-true now.
Identity crisis inbound for Lil' Jaryuu next?