[ He notes how she said 'humans' instead of 'people'. Maybe she's not that secretive about her nature... or it's just a slip up. ]

Yes. A great calamity befell the land, and living has been difficult. [ He says this calmly, since he's already accepted it - it's regrettable, but not something that he could change... not the first part of it, at least. ] This place is an image of the world before all that happened.

[ Which meant the large amount of humans being something he's entirely unused to. ]