How I became what I am now: A Mount&Blade II: Bannerlord story (part 3)

Wow! What a life I got myself into!

Can you believe what happened in the last months? I travelled all around the central sea! Yes, all around!

I am still not sure how that happened. I just wanted to trade, and everyone knows, the farer you go, the bigger the profit. And of course I still needed information on that banner...

But I have to say, the lands are in a worse state than I have thought. You don't really see it, but if you look a bit more closely, you can see all the devasted villages and the graves. War has not been nice to the people, not only in my country.

Speaking of which, I of course also travelled the big desert. There is a lot of profit to be made in going from North to South. And it certainly is a bit warmer in the desert!

The amount of snow in the North is incredible. It is everywhere! Everything is white!

Except the blood on the snow.

More than everything else the sheer amount of looters and bandits is depressing. You can barely travel from a village to the next without meeting some.
Luckily my party has grown enough that those aren't a problem. After a few month I am the proud chief of 20 experienced warriors and double that amount of horses. The wares I transport could feed a small village for a month and give raw material for two.

I have grown personally, too. By now I look more like a warrior myself. The ring mail definitely makes you feel safer. And do you know what? I even won a tournament!

I have no idea how I managed that. I sneaked around during the group fights, and in the final encounter I met another lucky fellow, who was not much more skilled than I am. The goddess of luck must have had her fun with this tournament!
And the price, a nice, sturdy helmet, sits now on my head whenever we are in dangerous areas - which means basically everywhere where you can't see a town or castle.

And I have to admit, since it is impssible to avoid the looters, I have taken to hunt them down. It takes less time than to avoid them and the next caravan that comes through is safer, too.
I try to not kill the men. Instead I sell them as slaves. That way they might even get a better life than in the woods. Or in the opposite case, their suffering might be shorter.

I wonder if there is anything that could be done to prevent all the poor people from going bandit? But I guess as long as the wars go on, and normal farming or business is nearly impossible outside the big cities, nothing will change.

But at least one thing will change for me: I have finally enough money to outfit a second caravan!
Sabile, a woman similar to me, a trader from the desert, is going to lead it. She is one of the companions I have found during my travels. There are people with experience in everything out there in the world!
I am especially proud of Atis, another Aserei, who is unbelievable at scouting. He looks at a random column of smoke and tells you what is cooked, how many people will be eating and who of those eaters has a secret love far away.

He claims to be the best in Calradia, and I believe him.

I wonder what other people I will meet in the future?