Tournament Help (native)

Ive decided i want to finally try and beat native after years only playing modded wb. I generally try making money through trade or quests but i want to get better at combat so i wanted to ask what are the best towns/ nations to do tournaments in? im very okay at fighting and can sometimes win them if i get the right equipment, but i also sometimes get to the final round and am forced to go up against someone with a greatsword with only a bow and knife. also, when fighting on foot i tend to get ganked by two or more opponents.

I also generally play with autosave on cause i dont like feeling like im cheesing the game, which probably doesnt help.