Eccentric, or dumb? We're led to assume that he's a genius (he intuited the existence of atoms, after all!), so in exchange for that he could very likely be absentminded -- we're given evidence of that, as well . . . as well as some carelessness about whom he deals in order to obtain what he needs to obtain for his experiments. (Even the seediest dealers know his name, yet the Order never pesters him. Interesting.)But remaining in Vizima while Vizima has turned into a warzone and is burning down . . . especially when you're somebody who, having not apparently taken sides, would therefore be protected by nobody.... is just stupid. Plain stupid. Kalkstein can be foolish and very careless, but he's surely not stupid. (And... two mercenaries are going to protect him? Come on.)As for his motivations, I suppose one can only suppose two things, here:1. There are special requirements for his current project -- which, for some reason, cannot wait until after the conflict, duh -- that keep him here.2. He's dealing with the Scoia'tael.I'm putting my stock into the Scoia'tael because allying one's self with the Salamandra is to ally one's self with humans who're even worse than the Order, humans whom even the Order and the King hate and want to eliminate.And, obviously if he'd made any arrangements with the Order and had been found out by the Scoia'tael: he'd already be dead....Since he's certainly not under the protection of our ever-so-unreliable Witcher.And, remember: In Ch.1 he was outside of Vizima and trying to get in. So, we know he travels.One can assume he lives there and/or at the moment has pressing business to attend to there... but what prompted him to leave Vizima previously? Surely, therefore, nothing is stopping him from leaving, and continuing whatever pressing business he has in Vizima later on, once things settle down.Personally, I think he's made deals with the Scoia'tael, is working with them and is therefore under their protection. That's why he made his home in the "nonhuman" ghetto in the Temple District . . . it's also why he's made his home in Old Vizima after the Scoia'tael secured the district he chose to live in.The only question I have is: why the Order has not been pestering him in previous chapters.Two mercenaries aren't going to explain away anything at all.
