After the Marsupilami swallowed a miniature radio set, Marcellin Switch, a radio amateur neighbor, burst into Spirou and Fantasio's house, accusing them of interfering with his radio signal (making a “QRN”). Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, Marcellin explain that he correspond with his radio transmitter with Ladislas, king of the Micro Monarchy of Bretzelburg. The latter is prisoner in his own palace, because of the tyranny of General Schmetterling. Marcellin then suggests to escort Spirou and the Marsupilami by a veterinary friend of his, in order to remove the radio set from Marsupilami's nose (where it ended). Fantasio wait for them in Marcellin's house, leading him to be mistaken for the latter by the Bretzelburg's secret services, who kidnap Fantasio. Spirou and Marcellin start a long journey to free Fantasio, save the king, and end the dictatorship in Bretzelburg.
Tropes associated with this story include
- Darker and Edgier: There are torture scenes, albeit to stay kid-friendly, they stay in the Cool and Unusual Punishment.
- Dystopia Is Hard: The Kingdom of Bretzelburg under the dictatorship of General Schmetterling, who rules through the puppet king Ladislas. As a result of Bretzelburg's arms race with Maquebasta, the country's economy has all but collapsed, with long lines of people outside grocery stores due to the lack of food in the shops, bus passengers forced to pedal to move the bus due to fuel restrictions, people wearing newspapers as clothes and beer being replaced with tap water. The secret police is everywhere, with even the slightest expression of dissent meriting arrest and "re-education." Meanwhile, the copious amounts of weapons acquired as a result of the arms race are themselves shown to be useless: oil barrels are stuck together to appear like rockets and grenades are made from food tins... with the contents still inside.
- Evil Chancellor: General Schmetterling, the commander of Bretzelburg's military and the de facto ruler of the small kingdom. He keeps King Ladislas docile by regularly giving him medication to "calm his nerves," thereby enabling him to run the country and escalate the ruinous arms race with Bretzelburg's neighbor Maquebasta, which he uses to embezzle copious amounts of government funds.
- Putting on the Reich: All Bretzelburg troops, whose appearance invokes World War I Imperial Germany. Bretzelburg as a whole is very reminiscent of either Eastern Germany and occupied France or Belgium during World War II.
- Ruritania: Bretzelburg is a typical Ruritanian country, with added Germanic trappings.
- Supreme Chef: Herr Doktor Kilikil is the torturer for the kingdom of Bretzelburg. However, Kilikil prefers cooking, his real passion. Fantasio found his dishes so delicious that he visits him after their adventure in Bretzelburg is over.
- That Poor Plant: Spirou convinces the king to stop taking the "medicine" his advisors use to keep him docile. He pours it out on a plant, which immediately wilts.
