Feudal service and the question of unpaid troops

Would a king still have to pay mercenaries who had died?

The response shifts to feudal contingents and their service obligations, without establishing a general rule for mercenary contracts.

A joking question about paying dead mercenaries prompts a distinction between hired soldiers and feudal contingents. A lord could owe troops as a service obligation, with royal payment becoming relevant under different circumstances. That arrangement differs from simply hiring mercenaries for wages. No named contract or campaign is examined, so the explanation remains a general distinction about obligations and funding.